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Who is Keeho? How the internet both canceled and exonerated P1Harmony member before he even made his debut

The idol stood accused of owning an anti-Exo fan account when he was 15, in addition to harassing Black women and girls online, claims he has denied

Debuting is a momentous occasion for a K-pop idol. After years of training and working towards a singular goal, getting to formally introduce yourself as the latest idol on the block is an honor and for many, a privilege. But for P1Harmony's Keeho, debuting turned out to be a bit of a nightmare.

P1Harmony is a six-member group set to debut in October under FNC Entertainment. Korean-Canadian Keeho, whose real name is Yoon Stephen, is the group's leader as well as one of its vocalists. After living in Canada throughout his youth, Keeho was introduced on September 3 as part of pre-debut promotions. But almost immediately, he found himself at the center of controversy after internet sleuths uncovered his past online activity, which included running an anti-Exo/BTS fan account as well as certain allegedly racist remarks. And overnight, Keeho became the idol who was canceled before he even debuted.

As swift as the internet's gavel might be, it must be noted that there are some aspects of this situation that don't fully add up, and both Keeho and FNC addressed these in two separate statements. The first issue relates to the ownership of the fan account, and the second is in relation to whether Keeho deserved to be held accountable for the alleged racist posts made through the account. In their official statement, FNC stated, "Keeho was a K-pop fan during his school days in Canada. At the time, he ran a fan account on social media with seven acquaintances that he met online. The account that’s been referred to as Keeho’s was one that he ran together with those acquaintances, who shared the password and the account was closed at the end of 2017. Since then, he has not used social media. The old posts that have become an issue recently were not written by Keeho."

The statement did, however, accept the responsibility on Keeho's behalf, stating "he should have recognized the issue with the account and taken actions against it, and it is certainly his fault that he failed to do so. We sincerely apologize to the artists who were affected by this incident and to everyone who was hurt by it." Further addressing the alleged racism, FNC noted, "The claim that Keeho was racist is absolutely not true. As he grew up as an Asian in North America, he is more sensitive to the issue of racism than anyone, and he’s well aware that it should never occur."

Keeho later shared a handwritten note echoing his label's sentiments. He stated, "There has been a lot of screenshots circulating around about my Twitter account from years ago. I would like to own up to that and inform you all that once again I am deeply sorry for all the damages I might’ve caused." He continued, "The account owner was me, and the person who made the account was me as well, for that reason, this whole issue was my mistake." He then confirmed the account was shared by multiple users, and they frequently tweeted from each other's accounts. However, he further added, "Although this did happen, the owner of the account is me, and me not knowing what was being tweeted and posted is my fault. I once again genuinely apologize."

Addressing the accusations of racism, Keeho stated, "I would also like to say I would never make a racist or racially charged statement to anyone, as a person of color myself coming from a racially diverse community, I understand the complexity and seriousness of racism and racial discrimination. This also includes microaggressions and other cultural offenses that lead to the bigger picture of racism."

And with that, it appeared the case would be closed and forgotten. At least on FNC and Keeho's part. The Internet, however, wasn't quite as quick to forgive and forget. Specifically, the Twitter account in question had been accused of targeting and harassing Black women and girls, something neither the label nor its idol chose to directly address. This specific claim is what led to many canceling Keeho, deeming him unworthy of the idol career he trained three years for.

But just when it appeared the situation might turn far too sour, the alleged fellow owners of his Twitter account, as well as several of his online friends from back in the day hopped to Keeho's defense. And to make the quickly-unfolding situation easier to follow, one Twitter user shared, "For everyone confused on the whole keeho thing," along with a link to all the relevant screenshots that seemingly clear Keeho's name. And another user surmised, "So you're saying that keeho beef wasn't anti-Blackness and it was just a one day Army vs Exo-l beef and fadxings completely exaggerated it, made him look racist. They claimed he bullied them but they also bullied Keeho back by calling him a cancer patient and editing his photos..."

And, as if coming full circle, there are now Keeho fan accounts dedicated to the idol's career, including ensuring no misinformation is spread about his past. One tweet reads, "Hello, I decided to create this account because stan twitter decided to jump on the hate bandwagon towards P1H’s keeho because they claim he’s racist. The truth is: there is a lot of disinformation and no actual proof of him being racist. in this thread I’ll show everything."

And with that, most of the Internet has chosen to move on. Some have continued the conversation of anti-Blackness in fandom, raising alarm over how quickly people are willing to dismiss situations where Black fans find themselves the target of racism and misogyny. Others turned the situation into a meme of sorts, pointing out that if past social media posts where the deciding factor no one would be able to debut ever again, especially if they've ever committed the cardinal sin of being a fan account. Some even found humor in the idea that Keeho would fully understand 'Stan Twitter' linguistics, tweeting, "IMAGINE P1H Q&As AND KEEHO TALKS IN STAN TWT LANGUAGE OH MY GODHSHFJGJG."

Controversy aside, the situation certainly helped hype up a new boy group right before their scheduled debut.