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'Disband Mnet' trends as Ateez fans fume over mistreatment of K-pop group by channel

The entertainment channel Mnet has come under fire for mistreating Ateez, especially during their participation on the 'Kingdom' survival show

The popular South Korean entertainment channel, Mnet, is under fire for mistreating K-pop group Ateez. After constant disrespect, a Korean Atiny (Ateez’s fandom) made a lengthy post of all the times Mnet had treated the K-pop group poorly. The final straw might have been Ateez not getting a single nomination for any award on Mnet's award show, MAMA 2021, despite the channel calling them ‘performance kings’. On top of it, fans found it humiliating that Ateez, the only group that was not nominated, performed at the award show too.

The lengthy post that went viral on Korean social media was translated to English and is now making the rounds on Twitter. Korean Atinys claimed that Mnet’s staff would scream at Ateez while filming their reality shows. They were not told about the venues where they would be performing like the outdoor festival event and their makeup room was the smallest during the ‘Kingdom’ shoot. While other participating groups were given sofas, Ateez members were given stiff office chairs. Such stories of mistreatment have been circulating since early 2021. Fans knew Ateez members were tired and had not got any rest due to the back-to-back promotion schedules for their ‘Fireworks’ era and ‘Kingdom’ performances.

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Mnet’s mistreatment of Ateez

Fans also noticed that Mnet had cut Ateez’s ‘Rhythm Ta’ performance on ‘Kingdom’ and kept mistaking the members’ names, group positions and entirely forgot one member during their introduction. Atinys were also upset that Ateez were made to eat on a roof while Mnet continued to messily film their performances like ‘The Real’ stage at MAMA 2021. We even had member Yeosang talking about how the mics during MAMA 2021 were not working during the live broadcast. The original poster added that there were countless other incidents but they wanted to end it with these major points and also compared how TXT was being treated the same way.

Fans also brought back the leaked messages of Ateez's staff during 'Kingdom'. They confessed that they all knew Mnet treated them poorly yet they continued to do their best since they wanted to give their fans the best performances, despite Mnet's ill-treatment.

This is not the first time Mnet has come under fire for mistreating K-pop groups. YG and Starship have a poor relationship with the channel due to their manipulative decisions and rigged voting scandals. The K-pop groups like Wanna One, X1 and IZ*ONE disbanded probably due to Mnet manipulating their survival show series ‘Produce’. Most recently, fourth-gen groups like TXT, Itzy and Ateez were treated poorly at MAMA 2021.

'Respect for Ateez'

Angry fans trended #DISBAND_MNET and ‘Respect for Ateez’ as they made tweets like, “Im so mad while reading this. if you can’t do your work properly then DON’T WORK??? istg mnet is the biggest problematic ever in this industry. i hope you’ll get the even worst mistreat from other ppl or industry someday. and please get lost.” Another said they always knew, “And yet ppl cant see its rigged from day dot? First 5mins i knew. 1. Screen time 2. Their room 3. Camera work I am pissing myself. Fcuk mnet trash company.” One Atiny said, “Kinda late but not too late to drag msnake.”

Another angry fan shared, “Imagine getting treated like this since their rookie until now and ppl still had the gut to say they're privilege and make a template to protest with all the mistake mnet did then kq need to release a whole statement to clear it and protect ateez.” One fan urged other fandoms, “Honestly they dont just do this to ateez but to a lot of others and id love to see other fandoms who got their idols mistreated by mnet to join as well.” Another tweeted, “RESPECT FOR ATEEZ and for the other groups which were disrespected.”

Fans also brought back the time viewers thought Ateez were getting special treatment due to Mnet’s rumors. “All these posts make me thinking mnet setting atz up so they are hated by other fandoms. I'm not forgetting that templates y'all sent to mnet to the point keque had to release a statement,” said one Atiny. Another shared, “30h of filming during cb promo period with totally no sleep + being tortured by m🐍 by squeezing them into this small room sitting on those stupid office chairs while others literally have like big rooms + comfortable sofas ?? where’s the basic humanity even ??”

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