Recently, a Chinese fan recounted their interaction with NewJeans’ Hanni after a recent event, accusing the female idol of ignoring Asian fans and only giving autographs to Westerners.
The full post from the Chinese netizen is as below:
“At first, I didn’t want to post this. Normally, when I get to know the true face of someone, I just quietly walk away and never pay attention to them again. [But honestly, in most cases, I don’t care because they’re men, and I just think all men are the same.] However, this time, I met a foreigner who is a member of a girl group that I really like. To be clear, I actually like another member more, but I still had a good impression of this one. I even ordered from her fan café and posted pictures.
I hesitated about whether I should post this. I like all female idols, and even if I don’t feel strongly about some of them, I never badmouth them.
But because of her actions at this offline event, I cried for a long time and asked my friend what I did wrong. I wanted to like her unconditionally, so I even showed my friends this situation to find an explanation for her behavior, but no one could justify it. My illusion of Kpop had long been shattered, but it still hurt to see an idol, who promotes herself as kind to fans, behave like this in private. If it had been a male idol, I probably would have let it go. But this group is a girl group going through a unique phase… However, I don’t have the courage to publicly call her out. I’m afraid of how her fans will react, and they might even criticize me. At the same time, I hope to see how her fans will try to defend her, maybe just to make myself feel a little better… Sorry, the beginning is a bit messy. It’s been days since it happened, but those scenes are still replaying in my head…
Because of the nature of the event, there were a lot of people, so I bought a ladder to take pictures of her, carried it around, and waited for almost 8 hours… When I got home, my shoulders were bruised. But this often happens at offline events, and I willingly went through it, so I’m not complaining about that… What bothered me was seeing her smile while personally signing autographs for four or five Westerners, even asking for their names. However, most of these foreigners were just there for fun and weren’t really her fans. They left right after getting her autograph. My friend stayed with me the whole time, and I waited alone until she left the event. I called her, but she didn’t even turn around. It’s not about not getting an autograph; I can always pay to get one here in my country… The issue was her attitude… I told her, ‘I’m from China and have been waiting for 8 hours…’ but she still didn’t turn around. I asked my friend if maybe she was too tired, but no matter how tired you are, if you’re walking down a 10-meter path and hear your name called nearby, wouldn’t you at least glance back? All my friends who saw the video said she was rude and lacked character… How can someone act so differently in private? I don’t want to go into more details… After being ignored, I slowed down, held back my tears, and my friend took me home… Then I kept thinking about it; did I do something wrong? Maybe if there hadn’t been a video of her treating the foreigners kindly, it wouldn’t have hurt so much…”.
Below are some comments from Chinese netizens under the post:
- I just watched the video you posted, and it’s heartbreaking. You called her name, and she didn’t even look back. There were only four people there. Don’t bother with her next time. She’s really not worth it. Aren’t you the one who didn’t get the autograph? Why did you still wait for her, an idol who doesn’t even smile?
- Anyone would leave. Kpop is terrible. These idols don’t deserve it…
- Don’t make excuses for her. My idol was filming a show until late at night. When they got back to the hotel at 3 or 4 a.m., they still smiled, greeted, and chatted with fans. I can only say that she’s not worth your efforts.
