SM Stole Stray Kids’ Lee Know’s Design for RIIZE’s Wonbin’s Plushie?
A newly-unveiled plushie of RIIZE’s Wonbin is being accused of copying a previous design from Stray Kids’ Lee Know.
On February 14, SM Entertainment released a new official merch line for RIIZE, which includes plushies for each member.
Among those, Wonbin’s plushie drew special attention for its eerie similarities with a previous design made by Stray Kids’ Lee Know.
In particular, Wonbin’s plushie is an animal with a cat ear and a bunny ear with eyes looking up – which bears strong resemblance to a character design Lee Know revealed years ago.
As a result, fans of Stray Kids immediately showered SM Entertainment in criticisms, accusing the agency of “stealing” Lee Know’s design.
However, RIIZE’s Anton and Shotaro have since mentioned that RIIZE members designed the plushies themselves, from the drawing to the naming. Therefore, it seems that SM itself got nothing to do with the design, and did not “steal” Lee Know’s character.
On the other hand, fans of RIIZE explained that Wonbin is often called a cat, bunny, and duck, leading to him deciding to include all these animals in his plushie. According to fans, the similarities to Lee Know’s design may be a mere coincidence, as Wonbin is likely unaware.
So far, both SM and JYP have not spoken up about this “stealing” accusation.
Source: Krb, X
