The 4 most ridiculous plagiarism scandals turning K-pop community upside down!

One of the most disapproving issues in a showbiz is plagiarism, copying and stealing other artists’ idea. In any country, plagiarizer deserved to be condemned for taking full advantages of other people’s thought. And online communities always have strong reactions to the artworks that “seem to be similar” to one another in an unusual way.
Thus, many antifans rely on this habit of the public to make up some plagiarism scandals with the aim of defaming artists’ reputation. In these cases, in order to attract the attention from the netizens, “proofs” offered by antifans are so unpersuasive that they may become ridiculous.

BTS suspected to copy EXO’s concept

Just returning from America after the historic comeback stage at Billboard Music Awards 2018, BTS was involved in an unfortunate controversy. To be specific, in the group’s comeback show, the hit song “Fake Love” was performed by the boys with their outfits and stages being well-invested and carefully-designed
K-pop fans gave BTS tons of compliments for the group’s creativity in music and performance. However, EXO-L accused BTS of copying EXO’s outfit concept from the “MAMA” MV. BTS’s black cloaks and horrifying stage was assumed to be identical to EXO’s superpower concept 6 years ago.
https://youtu.be/FQ9YXa4WUgo
This suspicion triggered fierce debates between the 2 fandoms on social media. In these arguments, ARMY gave some evidences to prove that this outfit has been used so many times in movies, music and performances of a lot of artists other than BTS. Netizens stated that this plagiarism suspicion was so absurd and unreasonable.
Moreover, BTS was even accused of copying word font, sponsor outfits, hair colors, etc. All of these rumors were said to be too childish and ridiculous.

TWICE “stealing” SNSD’s concept

Before becoming the hit of the year, TWICE’s “Cheer Up” was thought to copy the idea of SNSD’s “Oh”. It is not difficult to spot the similarities. Both groups had 9 members wearing shorts and baseball jackets. TWICE also transformed into a cheerleader team with many bright and mischievous images behind the scenes just like SNSD did in “Oh” MV. These similarities provoked a barrage of criticism towards TWICE as people thought that this group intentionally copied SNSD and followed the old path of the SM’s girlgroup.
Both SNSD and TWICE used baseball jackets and cheerleader concept
However, ONCE assumed that baseball jackets are favored by many cheerleader teams in all over the world beside SNSD. The fact that sport clothes such as tennis skirt, baseball jackets are re-designed to fit the concept of a cheerleader team is too familiar in high schools. It was understandable for TWICE to apply this concept, because it fitted the bright and active vibe of the song.
Despite the controversy, “Cheer Up” became one of the hottest songs in 2016. The song’s popularity was just as enormous as that of “Oh”. Until now, TWICE is still expected to have another hit song which can fill the big shoes of “Cheer Up”.

I.O.I’s name copying AOA?

Making their debut through the survival show “Produce 101”, the winner girls gained the huge attention from the public and that’s why some bad rumors appeared.
I.O.I members have been loved since they joined the survival show “Produce 101”
When company announced the group’s name was I.O.I, many fans of the female group AOA opposed this name and they request I.O.I to change the name. AOA fans asserted that YMC’s girlgroup plagiarized AOA’s name. The pronunciation of these two names are quite similar, leading to this misunderstanding.
I.O.I members have been loved since they joined the survival show “Produce 101”
AOA fans request I.O.I to change name AOA fans request I.O.I to change name
Still, if I.O.I was accused of plagiarism just because of the pronunciation, it would have been so unreasonable. The meaning of the two names are totally different. AOA stands for “Ace Of Angels”, meanwhile I.O.I stands for “Ideal Of Idol”. Since the meaning for the names are not similar at all, then this accusation was inappropriate.

BlackPink’s MV “following” Red Velvet?

At the beginning of the group’s debut, BlackPink was involved in a plagiarism controversy when the “MV” Whistle was released. Netizens realized that BlackPink’s MV had many similarities to Red Velvet’s “One Of These Night” MV. From the scene in which the members sitting in a car to the way they gathered at a round table and stared at the camera made netizens think that YG’s girlgroup “followed” Red Velvet’s MV.
Netizens asserted “Whistle” MV by BlackPink was a work of plagiarism
Right after the controversy was heated, there was some news stating that the 2 MVs had the same director. The assumptions believed to be the “plagiarism evidences” were so awkward and many fans from both fandoms didn’t agree with this accusation. Many opinion saying that there were the distinctive differences between Red Velvet and BlackPink during the whole MVs.
Despite the negative comments, “Whistle” MV still has extremely high views and positive feedbacks. This song helped BlackPink to become the fastest girlgroup in K-pop history to have the first win, 4 girls of YG got the first cup only 13 days after their debut.