MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CELEBRITY NEWS

Mingyu's bullying past: Seventeen's agency Pledis defends K-pop star, Internet wants label to sue accuser

In a recent statement put out by Pledis Entertainment, the label has cleared the air about the accusations made against Mingyu

With K-pop stars living every waking moment in the limelight, past events can often be damaging to their social image. And by the looks of it, Seventeen's Kim Mingyu has found himself in a situation that highlights just this. The K-pop group member was recently accused of having been a bully back in his school days.

As per an online post which made headlines back in February 22, a former student who attended elementary and middle school with the artist accused him of being a part of a group that bullied her.

RELATED ARTICLES
Seventeen's Mingyu allegedly harassed a female student sexually, would 'say sexual jokes' around her

What is Kim Mingyu's net worth? The 'Seventeen' K-pop rapper gained worldwide acclaim for self-produced music

As reported by Soompi, she stated: “Since elementary school, [Mingyu] was good at soccer and was a part of the group of delinquents. In my first year of middle school, there was a time when the scary kids and older students stopped me on my way home from school and took my money and verbally abused me.”

She later explained that one of them threw a bottle at her face and laughed when it hit the mark — she was referring to Mingyu. She also accused him of having robbed her and using the same money to go to his idol group practices. The post was taken down shortly after. Pledis Entertainment, Seventeen's label, put out a statement back then, defending the artist and claiming that it was 'groundless and completely false'.

However, Pledis Entertainment issued another statement clearing the air, stating that although the victim and Mingu attended the same hagwon (academy for extra classes outside of school), the victim wrote about her personal experiences and they had nothing to do specifically with Mingyu himself. As reported by Soompi, the translated statement reads as follows:

"We are informing you of additionally confirmed information regarding what was posted online regarding Seventeen member Mingyu. We met up several times with the person who wrote regarding an incident that occurred when they attended the same hagwon as our artist and verified the facts. As a result of this process, we resolved misunderstandings regarding this matter and mutually agreed to conclude this situation.

"The writer of the post experienced various personal matters unrelated to our artist while attending middle school, and they said they wrote the post to make known what happened in middle school. They said they wrote about what happened at the hagwon during that process. Regarding this, our artist answered that he did fool around with male students who were in his class at hagwon, but he did not intentionally cause misery or humiliation to a specific individual. However, if the writer happened to feel discomfort or had a hard time due to his past actions, he expressed an apology regarding this.

"The writer accepted this, and since the beginning of our discussions, they said that they do not wish for this matter to cause his departure from the group or for him to halt activities. We shared the above statement with the writer first so they can check its contents, and the writer agreed with the statement after checking it. Therefore, we hope that no further arguments regarding this matter will arise and potentially cause harm to the writer.

"We have finished contacting and discussing with everyone from the post whose identities could be confirmed. We are additionally working on verifying facts regarding the remaining matters with those whose identities are not clearly confirmed. We will share a separate statement in the future regarding additionally verified matters."

Fans were quick to hop on to Twitter and show their support and express their anger regarding the accusations. "i wish that pledis would sue all the ppl who did mistranslations and posted death threats against mingyu. he didnt deserve all that shit tbh." tweeted a fan. "And now we wait for pledis to sue everyone who spread those wrongful accusations towards mingyu. fr it could all have been avoided if they waited patiently for the official statement instead of mistranslating for clout." agreed another.

"svt’s discography back on spotify. the mingyu issue was handled well and with utmost respect for all parties... the rainbow is truly forming upon us once again carats. we got through it. we did well. GROUP HUUUGGGG besties. #SEVENTEEN_OT13 @pledis_17" said a fan. "I'm shaking & crying at the same time. Thank you so much @pledis_17 for handling this matter thoroughly, we appreciate your efforts as well as your good deeds. As for Mingyu, we are always here beside you no matter how long it takes or how hard the situation is. We love you!" Added another.

Looks like the fans and the star himself can breathe easy for now.