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Why is Le Sserafim's Garam bashed for bullying rumors but not Stray Kids' Hyunjin? Fans say ‘Not the same’

Fans claim that it's Hyunjin's 'male privilege' but others defended him saying that he apologized, unlike Garam, who is promoting 'without remorse'

School Bullying is a huge problem in South Korea and the beginning of 2021 really saw a huge blowup in incidents where K-pop idols were targetted by their former school mates as 'known' school bullies. The issue made some careers end prematurely but most of the idols involved in such scandals were able to emerge unscathed, proving that these were antis who were jealous of their success. But a few idols are still being harassed online. One such idol being subject to online trolling by Knetz (Korean netizens) to this day is none other than Stray Kids’ Hwang Hyunjin. He is now being compared to Le Sserafim’s Garam whose recent school bullying controversy is getting bigger by the day.

For the uninitiated, Kim Garam, a member of HYBE and subsidiary Source Music’s newest girl group Le Sserafim was accused of being a school bully. But the label/s immediately denied the rumors and instead stated that Garam was actually a victim of bullying in her middle-school years. The issue kept blowing up in the weeks that followed the initial round of allegations. More “evidence” was released but nothing was tied to Kim Garam conclusively. With each new piece of 'evidence' that was leaked online, fans were sure that Kim Garam was a bully.

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Fans question HYBE’s ‘ambiguous’ reply to Le Sserafim Garam's name on school violence document

Le Sserafim's Kim Garam personally addresses bullying controversy: 'It’s difficult to say anything'

Le Sserafim Garam’s school violence document makes news

A document from Garam’s middle school was allegedly leaked online which included Garam’s name as one of the bullies but HYBE has refuted the rumors yet again. They are standing firm on their original announcement and re-insinuating that Garam was a victim and not a perpetrator of school bullying. The scandal has blown way out of proportion, as on May 16, the issue was even discussed on the local South Korean news channel, Yonhap News. But compared to the attention that Kim Garam has drawn, JYP Entertainment’s fourth-gen boy group Stray Kids member Hyunjin is promoting freely and some Knetz have started to wonder why.

Knetz recall Stray Kids Hyunjin's 2021 controversy

Back in 2021, alongside many other K-pop idols, Hyunjin was 'outed' as a school bully. The Stray Kids member apologized for his actions and was put on a hiatus for most of 2021. It was also revealed that Hyunjin was actually involved in a fight and not a one-sided bullying issue. This made fans believe that he was actually innocent. The investigation around Hyunjin’s controversy was inconclusive as there was a lack of evidence to prove whether or not he was a school bully.

Fans claim that despite not being proven to be a school bully, Hyunjin ended up apologizing to his alleged victims and had put in hours of volunteer work to reflect on his past actions following the scandal. K-pop fans are wondering why Kim Garam is facing more backlash in comparison to Hwang Hyunjin when both instances involve K-pop idols being accused of bullying.

‘They will never forget about him’

Fans believe that Garam got the shorter end of the stick because she comes from HYBE and also because she is a woman. On the other hand, Hyunjin’s fans defend the singer saying the Stray Kids member paid for his wrongful actions by apologizing and coming clean even if he was not really guilty and spent time away from the limelight in reflection. In contrast, Garam is publicly promoting without remorse, according to Knetz. An unbiased fan on one such article comparing the two, said, “If hyunjin was lucky, garam would become the newest face of school violence, but it's looking like they will never forget about him.” Another fan said, “I hate BOTH. I hate all bullies.” Another fan responded, “This. But it's still wild to see that there's way more outrage over Garam, than Hyunjin, Lia and I forgot the name of another idol guy. It should lowkey be the other way around. Since the bigger the idol, the bigger the scandal. Idk if people are afraid of their fans or what... but it's mostly silence.” One fan mocked, “I hAtE bOtH and yet the only ones that suffer are the women…” One fan defended Hyunjin, “his situation was resolved in less than a week while hers is ongoing. he is still mass hated. this has nothing to do with her being a woman her situation is just straight up worse."

One user asked, “I don't even like Hyunjin but where did he phyiscally assault people like Kim Garam? Swearing at people and women is still trash but at least that's all verbal. Plus, he at least apologized and went into reflection. Even then he is still hated. Meanwhile, Kim Garam hasn't even felt anything yet and is out there calling herself soft tofu and singing about how fearless she is.” One more fan said, “At least hyunjin admitted to it and apologised. I still don't like him but he's better than garam in that regard.” Another fan said, “Actually his name pop-up in every article about "BULLY" tho lol A tan of hate still follow his ass everywhere but seeing people try to cover up for GARAM by using HYUNJIN is just a silly move both of them fucked up and deserved to get their ass done.”

One fan defended Hyunjin, “A lot of students and teacher stepped up to defend my man while a lot of evidences and victims came against that girl. WE ARE NOT THE SAME and WILL NEVER BE.” One fan said, “Knetz should start wondering how is hyunjin more successful than they could ever be. spoiler alert: hyunjin has a job, they don’t.”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.