The recent scandals have badly affected TWICE’s image and reputation.
The controversy surrounding Jihyo’s(TWICE) “scandal” on the V Live chatroom a few days ago has yet to come to an end. Although Jihyo personally explained to her fans, she still received a lot of criticisms not only from non-fans or netizens but also from TWICE’s fans.
Even before the scandal of Jihyo broke out, TWICE and their fans were soon faced with a series of scandals that happened recently, from Jihyo- Kang Daniel and Momo – Heechul dating news to Dahyun’s attitude at the airport or Nayeon’s stalker. However, what Jihyo said in the chatroom, with the words “attention-seeker” or “웅앵웅” (considered to be offensive to men), is the last straw that damaged not only her image but also TWICE’s reputation as well.
With ONCE being a fandom that is facing a lot of troubles when the dating news of two members was revealed, the thing that people fear the most is that the fans will turn their back on Jihyo, or even the whole group. In particular, TWICE is having many male fans, so the word that Jihyo used, even though she may not refer to her fans, can make her fanboys feel offended.
And finally, what many people worried about has come true! In the past few days, on big Korea fansites as well as in TWICE’s galleries, many Korean fans have announced that they will leave the fandom after the serious scandal of Jihyo. Many fans even posted evidence that they supported TWICE in a variety of ways, from streaming music to buying goods and participating in official fanclub. Some have been fans since the group debuted but eventually decided to leave the fandom after this incident.
A TWICE fan since 2015 wrote in the “announcement” to leave the fandom: “To be honest, of course she can date. But dating without asking the company, living for herself only is not right at all. Spitting out offensive words in the chatroom is not right at all. Her saying those words is like treating the company and ONCE like trash. All the implications in her words and her actions… Seeing the beautiful and hard-working members gave me strength. I have been supporting the group since late 2015, but … Seeing the way she began to not care about the people around her and do everything as she pleased, my feelings have gone. I will not support them as a ONCE anymore. Starting today, everything is broken. Goodbye TWICE “.
When this scandal was widely shared, a lot of Korean netizens also expressed sympathy with the decision of TWICE fans although it’s an extremely difficult decision for them. Many people said that since 2019, ONCEs have had to go through a tiring and disappointing period, leading to a painful but understandable decision to leave the fandom.
