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Is Kim Garam being bullied at school? Ex-Le Sserafim star's fans say 'messed up'

HYBE had initially said that the former idol was not a bully but a victim before terminating their contract with Garam

While Kim Garam has disappeared from the spotlight after her school bullying scandal, the fans that she had amassed during her short career as a Le Sserafim member have not given up hope. The 16-year-old was accused of bullying a former classmate, getting into gang fights, physically assaulting students and getting a level 5 punishment from the school violence committee. Her company, HYBE had at first shared that she was innocent and in fact, a victim of bullying. But after two months of silence, they terminated her contract and let her go from Le Sserafim.

But fans think that there might be some truth to the statement that Kim Garam was the one being bullied. On July 30, a photo started making rounds on Korean chat forums of a school desk. The desk had Kim Garam’s name scribbled on it and swear words surrounding it. Knetizens were under the impression that she had returned to school after leaving Le Sserafim and was being bullied due to the rumors that she had been a school bully in the past. However, her fans brought evidence that it was an old photo corroborating HYBE’s claims that Garam was the one being allegedly bullied.

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Garam’s desk in school was covered with swear words

The swear words surrounding Garam included ‘f**k’, ‘crazy’, ‘stupid’ and ‘b*tch’. While some netizens think that she and her classmates were simply playing around, her fans think that it's proof that the former Le Sserafim member was a victim. The photo was taken in 2018 and had first surfaced during the group’s debut when fans were searching for evidence to clear up Kim Garam’s name.

While the photo is not enough to debunk the rumors that Garam was a bully, more claims are cropping up in her defence. An alleged friend had accused Le Sserafim's label of using Garam as noise marketing and shared that they had submitted evidence of her being innocent but HYBE had not made use of it. According to a now-deleted tweet, it was also rumored that Garam was given the level 5 punishment because she had threatened via text the alleged victim for taking naked pictures of a friend.

‘The victim this whole time’

One fan explained, “Learn to fact check pls. those pics of her desk are NOT recent. it was when she was in middle school. meaning, she was bullied in middle school.” Another shared that her fans waiting for her had never seen her leave her home let alone go to school, “The article was wrong, the pict shows that she was bullied in 2018, she never get out from her house after leaving the dorm month ago.” A non-fan added, “Even though I wanted her out but no one should be bullied. This just messed up. Y’all can say karma but some times it can only go so far.”

Another shared, “If y'all are curious for the credibility of that desk picture that's from the same user who posted that full pic of g and her classmates doing that s*xual remark.” One observed, “The fact that the desk behind her looks clean buy her desk is full of writing already says a lot.” Another commented, “Now imagine yourself in GARAM's position. Being bullied whole middle school then finally when you thought you left behind your past, You're called a Bully when you were the victim this whole time, Thousands of people cyberbullying you for whole months.”

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