NCT's Taeyong deserves justice, say fans as SM Entertainment vows to take legal action against rumormongers
In September 2019, the South Korean rapper and member of the boy band NCT, Taeyong, was in the news for his insensitive behavior towards his fellow-classmates during his school years. When the allegations against Taeyong came to light, he issued an apology statement, regretting his past actions. Following Taeyong's apology, SM Entertainment responded saying, "Even after this event, Taeyong will do his best to not forget about his past, but remain humble while growing as a righteous person. Thank you."
However, in June 2020, one of the informants, who was speaking on behalf of one of the victims, re-surfaced on the internet and once again accused Taeyong of doing things that cannot be erased with his apology. They even shared a chat with the singer, which was believed to be edited to make Taeyong look insensitive, and reportedly deleted the text in which he had said "sorry", according to Dispatch.
On June 23, SM Entertainment issued another statement in the wake of recent accusations against Taeyong saying that they would be taking strict action against the misinformation and distortions against Taeyong. In the long statement, SM entertainment stated: "As the distorted claims continue and spread over and over again, serous damage such as the invasion of privacy, defamation of character, and defamation of Taeyong’s family has been caused, it is no longer possible to show leniency to protest artists. In response, if you continue to post malicious articles about Taeyong, we will no longer sit idly and take string legal action against the informant, including defamation."
Soon, Taeyong's fans took to Twitter to extend their support and love to the singer. One wrote, "The world doesn't deserve lee taeyong my god the guy is literally an angel TAEYONG BEST BOY YOU DESERVE TO GET THAT JUSTICE." Another added, "Taeyong thank you for being strong and surviving all this time... Thank you for making Sijeuni happy... You are the best, you are the best leader... Let's love each other for a long time."
In its official statement, SM Entertainment has also noted that they were holding back from taking legal action against the informant as they happen to be Taeyong’s former classmates and they didn’t want to cause them “harm”. Responding to this one of the fans wrote, “Taeyong is such a precious soul, he didn't wanna take legal action because the informant was his classmate. He deserves so much love and support from the world.” While another tweeted, “Now that Taeyong's name has been cleared, I want to thank Taeyong himself for staying strong amidst on-going hate and harassment he (has been) get(ting) for the past 4 years. He is indeed someone with big heart despite being attacked he still put others before him. Taeyong precious."
