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CLASS:y signs with M25 amid outcry over members being too young to deal with fan scrutiny

Fans worry about the members of the MBC show ‘My Teenage Girl’ group CLASS:y being K-pop idols at the young age of 14 and 15

With K-pop rising in popularity across the globe, multiple agencies are introducing rookie groups with members who are younger than 18, meaning they are minors in an extremely conservative and scrutinous environment. With members of CLASS:y, the rookie girl group that was made from the teen survival show ‘My Teenage Girl’ (Afterschool Excitement), signing with a new label, M25 Entertainment, a subsidiary of MBC Entertainment, fans of the genre are worried about the lasting impact this will have on the young minds of the group.

Four out of the seven members of CLASS:y are under the age of 16. Members Jimin and Riwon were born in 2007 while Seonyou and Boeun were born in 2008, making them the youngest four of the group at only 14 and 15 years old (International age) respectively. The remaining three are not much better but fans claim they are still legally adults: Hyeju and Chaewon are 18 and Hyungseo, the oldest, is 20.

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CLASS:y’s youngest member is 14 years old

With more and more K-pop idols opening up about their mental health issues and taking a break from the industry to focus on their health and well-being, users on the internet are talking about the possible long-lasting effects that debuting at such a young age would have on CLASS:y’s Seonyou, Boeun, Jimin and Riwon. Though they are 14 and 15 years old as per their international age, according to their Korean ages, they are a year older. However, this does not change anything as idols from the industry are scrutinized all the same, age no bar.

Trolls on the internet are known for fat-shaming K-pop idols like TWICE’s Jeongyeon. Even NMIXX’s Jiwoo, who is only 16, is being trolled for her weight. Besides, (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon and Ehypen’s Heesung were mocked for their plastic surgery. K-pop fans on Reddit and Twitter are worried about the future of CLASS:y members as popular idols who will always be under scrutiny for everything they do.

'13 and 14 is way too young'

With some members of CLASS:y being under the age of 15 at present, any minor change in their lives will be heavily scrutinized by their fans. Some fans have pointed out that Hang Don-chul, a producer of the show, had earlier made nasty remarks about survival shows and called them 'wholesome pornography'. One fan said, "He shouldn’t be in charge of any shows with children. This show should’ve never happened. I wish underage idols would be a thing of the past."

Another user said, "I find it strange how the final group has an 01 liner, two 03 liners, and then it just suddenly jumps to 07 + 08 liners? that's a pretty big age gap and 07 + 08 liners are still really young." One fan stated, "I watched the show , the show had a prequel where the contestants were supported by a psychologist, she was like their mom. I think they got a good treatment," and another responded saying, "That doesn't matter, they are still children who are being heavily exploited, therapy, or not." One fan said, "13 and 14 are definitely way too young. I just hope those girls don’t get too damaged by the K-pop industry," and another replied, "Considering we get full grown adults being damaged by the kpop industry, doubtful."

‘Why can’t they debut them later?’

Twitter stans are equally shocked with CLASS:y members being so young. One fan said, “I'm so shocked with class:y age like.” Another fan said, “Watching class:y performing is so confusing like SOME OF THEM ARE 13/14 DOING CUTE CONCEPT BUT DRESSING LIKE THEY'RE 20 DOING GIRL CRUSH WTF MBC.” Another tweet read, “I’m watching INKIGAYO rn and the way class:y will have to have a cute concept for like 4 years so that the 14 year old members don’t do a concept that’s too mature for them… the poor 18 year olds in that group. I would lose it.” One fan said, “Just watched the first CLASS:y stage and I could literally pick out the 13/14 year olds so uncomfy.”

One fan stated, “At LEAST 2 of the members of CLASS:y have barely started puberty and that just doesnt sit right with me. Pnation pulled Koki from the debut lineup because hes too young even though he passed the survival show, and are gonna debut him later. why cant they do that for CLASS:y??” Another fan said, “I was wondering why does some members of CLASS:y look pretty young and i was shocked to found out that the youngest member was born in 2008.”