KPOP's fakest "victim" - Hwayoung and the T-ara bullying scandal

Download Travel Town and enjoy the fun! bit.ly/PlayWithPloppy678
Today we will be talking about the fake bullying scandal that ruined one of kpop's biggest groups, T-ara.
Follow me on:
- Tik Tok: ploopy_678 (www.tiktok.com/@ploopy_678?la...)
- Instagram: Ploopy678 ( / ploopy678 )
- Patreon: ploopy678 ( / ploopy678 )
- Twitter: EvangelinePang ( / evangelinepang )
Credits:
- Research by: Evangeline, Becs
- Editing by: Evangeline

[@ploopy678]

Download Travel Town and enjoy the fun! bit.ly/PlayWithPloppy678 Merry christmas and happy new year to all of you 🥰🎄

[@Bernice_YT]

Ok

[@stan_tripleS]

OMG MERRY CHRISTMAS PLOOPY & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (remember you're ranking all the 2023 debuts 😭😭😭)

[@seungmin4life]

Thank you for this video I love these soo much I watch all of them while working out and just relaxing... I don't normally comment but I do watch a lot of the videosss love from Ireland 🤩😚

[@godslittlecrayola]

Merry Christmas, thanks for gifting us this video. Also, will you be posting a 2023 debuts vid? I always look forward to it. I also love that you compile this videos that clear up what happened during these incidents. I finally know what was up with Han Seo Hee because of you. Keep up the great work! Nice holidays.

[@XVa-uj8m]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Frankly everyone is too quick to cancel on the bullying. If someone is confronted and called out and sincerely apologizes then give them a chance! Note I said sincerely. I mean seriously there are people who do really disgusting things and still don't get canceled.

[@Koko24250]

Listen if you were a 2nd gen stan when this happened, you remember how BRUTAL this was. Those girls were under the biggest microscope. Everything was "evidence" of bullying. They target Jiyeon and Hyomin the most.

[@anabyaa009]

yeah the videos were so mean,ppl were misinterpreting every single action the girls made in public it was revolting and if we defended them the cussing only got worse

[@sergel02]

Oh it was vile. Like, as bad as some scandals can get now, the vast majority don’t come to close to how much vitriol was pointed at T-ara during those days. Admittedly things were muddled back then so it was hard to tell who was in the wrong or right, but no one waited to see.

[@yari139]

Well, people already hated Jiyeon well before the scandal so this just amplified and justified their hatred towards her.

[@yukijames1321]

Because those two were the most popular sadly

[@ElReyDiablito]

What's worse is that if you look at fandoms now, you see that people haven't changed a bit and still run with hearsay and rumors without even bothering to really check the facts whenever a scandal blows up. T-ara were my ults and this whole debacle made me reluctant about ever interacting with fandoms again.

[@divingintoive112]

The bullying scandal that kinda made me lost trust in most Kpop's bullying scandal. Even up until Garam's bullying scandal, i stay silent because I KNEEWWW something was fishy 😂😂😂

[@meIatonin]

I’m a newer Kpop fan so for me that scandal was Mina and Jimin 😭

[@tinyprettymoon]

I got into gidle like a month after the HWAA mv came out, when Soojin was already on hiatus for her bullying scandal 😭 it was a very confusing time Although it was funny to see someone try to accuse Soyeon and someone quote tweeting it saying she was homeschooled, who did she bully, the vegetables?

[@dreamcaught3876]

@@meIatoninyeah, that one was so fresh at the time of the garam scandal that i was really surprised at the initial response to garam. i was like, you all remember what you just did to jimin, right?

[@viridianlotus3062]

@@tinyprettymoonI bet the vegetables bullied her lmao

[@cattleya3959]

I'm still not over garam

[@TheOnlyMJS]

A stark reminder that there’s always two sides to a story. Jumping to conclusions and “asking for forgiveness later” isn’t the way to go. An attention-seeker single-handedly obliterated a whole GG’s career just because a mob of people couldn’t wait to be on the “right side,” which turns out to be the exact opposite.

[@joshualee8151]

she faked stuff... no doubt... but it didnt mess with her career... she had many dramas....

[@joshualee8151]

she has a thing.... god bless...

[@SuperNhodge]

The audience was only there for this "dirty slut" and we let the malevolent puritan ruling slavers know this when they were trying to manufacture a reason to get rid of her, that we would not be watching buying or showing up at their shows if they cut her. Same thing we did with Daisy Yu and Jennie Kim. If you want to lick the boots of the puritan slavers then by all means. Don't pretend your anything but a piece of shit while you're doing it.

[@Dervis128]

I distinctly remember an interview with Kim Kwang Soo right around the time T-ara hit it big with Bo Peep and I Go Crazy. He was asked if the girls would be getting a break now that they're famous, and he said no, and that he keeps the girls in constant competition with each other and that if they ever got lazy they would be replaced. He even said something along the lines of "they need to know that they need me more than I need them." Shortly afterwards, sometime around Roly Poly, Eunjung did an interview where she said that she cried and protested against the addition of a new member to the group because "they did everything the company asked, but its never enough." Based on this, I think its pretty clear how this whole situation happened. Kim Kwang Soo created a toxic environment, and was then shocked when he group became toxic. Hwayoung was plucked from a kareoke contest and put into a top tier girl group with little preparation to send a message to the other members; "you are replaceable." Hwayoung got it in her head that she was better than the other members because she was told that *she was*. The whole situation was mismanaged from the beginning and was allowed to spiral out of control because that's what KKS wanted.

[@xmochilove]

I remember that too! I felt so bad for Eunjung. He revoked her role as a leader and created that 'rotating leader' b/s. KKS is trash. He didn't even want to add Hwayoung anyways. He wanted to add Hyoyoung (who was really a bully that threatened AREUM of all people) to T-ARA but she insisted her twin be placed in the group instead. To add salt to the injury it wasn't even a karaoke contest it was literally Star King a variety show. Hyoyoung was playing some instrument or w/e and everyone was in awe of her looks and then she goes, I have a twin! Apparently shortly after the show he immediately signed them both on to the company and gave them contracts. Like ????

[@nnnnyaaasss]

Of all the kpop CEO’s he is one of the worst, and that’s really hard to do

[@tigerlily1118]

That's almost word for word what the original guy behind The Spice Girls said! Terrible minds think alike and have the same tactics.

[@ringdingdisaster]

i felt so bad for eunjung :(

[@Aoyama_zee]

It’s sad that tiara went from one of the most successful group too being one of the most hated in there generation

[@yukijames1321]

All over a lie

[@Cherry_nwjs]

its so sad that they were so popular but then just had a big downfall because of a fake bullying scandal

[@k.c.orlando6426]

This is why I can’t stand netizens. They are always jumping to conclusions and doing the most instead of waiting for more facts to come out. They keep ruining people’s careers over any stupid rumor they hear.

[@saviorofs0ng]

it doesnt help that the demographic skews so young

[@Unixquelol]

What are netizens? Sorry I'm new to kpop

[@vivk2932]

​@Unixquelol netizen means people who use the internet. I usually see it being used to mean knetizens (south korean internet users), but I've also seen some people use it for international kpop/kdrama fans as well? So if you see someone talking about something that made knetizens upset, they're talking about online commenters on forums like Nate Pann or something like that. If anyone has a better definition, correct me and I'll change it.

[@MinhNguyen-cr7wn]

Basically, when you're idols, everything bad about you will blow up a big fire, and for one-way decisions like netizens, they're already with kind of mind about idols shouldn't be any fault, plus the active social media even Nation show willing to push any idols's fault as the warning to all parent and child to aware about that case as much as it possible

[@Unixquelol]

@@vivk2932 thanks for the info

[@Erika-xm2mi]

I think most new kpop fans who have heard about this don't really fully grasp the level that T-ara was on. They were right there, neck on neck with giants like SNSD and Wonder Girls domestically, and their popularity in Japan rivaled that of KARA. In fact, SNSD went on a domestic hiatus after releasing "The Boys" and some have argued that T-ara had the potential to overtake them as the "nation's girl group" while they were away. KKS *should* feel bad for the way he handled the situation because he completely failed these girls. All he had to do was let the girls speak their truth. Instead, he shut them up and made them pretend like nothing happened. Kicking Hwayoung out of the group was the final nail in T-ara's career coffin.

[@yukijames1321]

This is kind of an exaggeration. T-ARA was doing very well but they weren’t SNSD’s direct competition or considered a top tier girl group with Wondergirls, KARA, SNSD or 2NE1 yet. They were getting there bc they had a string of hits but they weren’t at that level. But the scandal definitely completely ruined their careers. Though they weren’t the top GG yet they were everywhere with members on variety shows, solo endeavors, acting etc . All ruined because of one selfish person. Idk why the company even added her she wanted to be an actress

[@xmochilove]

@@yukijames1321 Not really an exaggeration tbh. Roly Poly won song of the year in 2011, had the most downloads and streams, and was played everywhere in Korea. The general public knew them. The scandal reached national news outlets. Lovey-Dovey did well too and Sexy Love, despite being released after the scandal still ranked in the charts. They had hits after hits since Bo Peep Bo Peep in 2009. Eunjung/Jiyeon already had landed leading roles in movies/dramas, Hyomin and Soyeon were just starting to get into acting. They were a top girl group that's why the fall from grace was huge. If they weren't considered a top-tier girl group, no one really would've cared that much about them. Please don't downplay their success

[@Ruriko.Y]

@@yukijames1321 they're big enough that I, who was not a kpop fan but likes SNSD, knew their name and recognized one of the main girls, Hyomin (??? not sure if that's her name)

[@danielledemise4075]

new fans wont grasp this idea bc we have "sec gen fans" who downplay how big t-ara was before this scandal. example yukijames who replied to you.

[@drk3249]

​@@yukijames1321 Gosh, I get dumbfounded whenever I read this kind of comment saying that T-ARA wasn't a top tier group. They already ARE a top tier group, and honestly as a fan I dare say T-ARA had the potential to be on BTS level today if it weren't for the scandal, that already beats all the other girl groups. If 2013 artistes like BTS can achieve this big, I'm pretty sure T-ARA can too, their potential for growth was so much bigger than all the other girl groups. I remember reading from somewhere that their music videos in China ALONE have BILLIONS of views, so they could literally be arguably be above blackpink's level even today, that is just astonishing.

[@absolutelynotellen]

What AOA experience was basically something that T-Ara once experienced. As a victim of bullying, these type of bullying scandals always make my blood boilーthese so called "victims" gotta be thinking lying about their bullying situation was cute lmao.

[@galaxyquest8519]

I didn’t get good vibes from her and neither did jessi sorry but that told me all I needed to know about shorty so I guess where there smoke theres fire

[@Minaaamii]

Wild that it happened twice already… you’d think people would learn from the first time around

[@13din]

Same thing with April hyun joo

[@ReiAnikaAyanami]

​@@galaxyquest8519 bruh jessi was talking about UPRS's favouritism towards an idol, which jimin happened to be. jessi has NEVER said anything negative about jimin personally. it's so baffling to me that you would blindly believe jessi's words which YOU misinterpreted and hate jimin over that? what? it's been proven multiple times by now that mina was lying the whole time, yet you still choose to believe her? is mina your kult leader?

[@AA-ed6ek]

@@galaxyquest8519 People like you are the worst. They twisted that clip with Jessi to attack Jimin. Why be this dishonest? Is it that fun destroying people?

[@keymichella]

Isn’t it what Leia from Blackswan tried to do with Fatou? But then we found out that she was the bully and SA the other members

[@Koko24250]

Yup. And her rat fans still say racist things towards Fatou to this day

[@pamelaxoxo]

Ok she never sa no one she may be touchy but to say she sa someone is just a reach

[@peachii4894]

She SA'd the other members??? I did NOT hear about this

[@lovesick3317]

⁠@@peachii4894she was really touchy with them, touching their chest and sometimes near their crotch area and the girls would move away or position her hands to a different area

[@MangoLucky2023]

Yes and those Leia’s fans still attack Fatou all over social media to this day. •Those Leia fans have attacked the current Blackswan members (Gabi, Sriya & NVee), they have even attack Gabi’s father, who all have nothing to do with the scandal. •Recently, those fans were attacking Youngheun (a former Blackswan member) on her Instagram, because she is friends with Fatou.

[@ifallapart2000]

It’s bizarre to me that not only does she still have a career but people still believe all the lies, and from what I’ve seen says she’s not wrong for lying. It’s so sick to me that a person will purposely lie, and ruin someone else’s life just because. I’m not sure who disgusts me more her or her sister. They’re terrible.

[@kpopdisco2330]

It's a good thing Hwayoung hasn't been in anything since 2021, and even that was a small role. Unfortunately, Hyoyoung is still acting, but they aren't the big anticipated dramas you see everyone talking about.

[@ifallapart2000]

@@kpopdisco2330 Yeah, I know, but what’s weird is people are saying they deserve better, and should people shouldn’t hold the past against them. Doesn’t make sense to me because they weren’t actually held accountable for what they did, and even when the truth came out people still believed that they were innocent or said their actions were justified. Just goes to show, sometimes the truth just doesn’t matter, especially after the damage has been done.

[@beu7990]

@@kpopdisco2330 its really so disappointing that she turned out to be this way because i really enjoyed her acting in age of youth she doesnt deserve public support

[@s.a.morales]

The most angering thing about this whole scandal is that Hwayoung is still an actress today and the T-Ara members suffered the consequence because of false allegations and lies.

[@ArgonApricot]

I became a T-ara fan in 2012, right before this scandal hit. It was a deeply distressing time for the members and their fans. People were so cruel to them, and the cruelty stretched on for years and years. I hope that later generations of kpop fans are able to appreciate just how successful and dominant T-ara was at their peak 🥲 They deserved better. I still listen to their music all the time

[@spasycah]

They basically get wiped from all nostalgic playlists and nooooo one talks about how iconic they were

[@alexandragabitto2573]

I’m glad these girls have gained closure. It just goes to show that shoving idols who are strangers to each other in a group doesn’t mean they’ll become friends or even like each other. Even AoA’s Jimin seemed to have gotten hate from some of the other members a couple times (the “sweaty man scent” situation during an interview in particular had me going wtf is going on.)

[@ploopy678]

What's the sweaty man scent? 😦 just curious hahah

[@ilive4anime.]

Did they really get closure tho? I was and am still a QUEEN and I've kept up with what I can. Eunjung suffers with crippling anxiety at times and insomnia... not much was shown with qri or boram and soyeon/hyomin recently got married but what do we really know about the sleepless nights. The only reason we know about eunjung was because of a different show.

[@silverchenbi]

Was Jimin proven innocent at the end of the day or was she really a bully? Need some facts. Video seems to imply Jimin was innocent but I can find no such evidence.

[@shefkpr03]

@@silverchenbi I would recommend the video of Stephanie Soo. She really explained the whole scandal perfectly.

[@Bunny20241]

I will never forget garams situation. Her idol career was literally obliterated and completely nullified within 2 weeks over a fake bullying rumor from when she was in middle school.

[@maarshiexcryxx]

regardless of how many time i have heard about this, it still makes me so sad. They deserved better

[@MsAnimefan10]

T-ara got more than just some success in China. For a few years they were the only group allowed to perform in Chine despite the country's ban on kpop.

[@Taeb000ty]

As a T-Ara ult, it’s hard to even acknowledge her as a member. Most including myself, refuse to acknowledge her legacy in the group nor speak her name. Also, I love my girls but they were 100% in the wrong for airing out their grievances publicly concerning her; I think they’d also agree they were too emotional at the time and made a huge mistake. However, T-Ara’s mistakes in relation to this fiasco are why idols ( rightfully so imo ) are no longer allowed to have unrestricted access to social media. Additionally, as you mentioned, it’s extremely bittersweet to see T-Ara get recognition and an apology from the public after years of constant harassment. International fans were not as unanimously on her side as Korean fans were but they were still pretty heavily biased against T-Ara. When the final revelations came flooding forward in 2017, most Queens kind of felt numb to it. We all had known the truth for ages but were ignored and dogpiled on if we dared to defend T-Ara. Ultimately, the blame lays at the feet of CCM’s CEO for his complete ineptitude surrounding this entire situation. It was completely tragic their treatment that they endured, I’m a Qri bias an one of her birthday events hosted by CCM got something around maybe 15 or less reservations. When we say the public turned their back on T-Ara we mean not like 20% but more like 90-95% turned their backs entirely on the group, and as my Korean friend described when she was outed as a liar their was an immense sense of “We destroyed their careers for no reason. We are monsters” feeling in Korea amongst K-pop fans; this led to the infamous video of T-Ara’s win on The Show were they were all sobbing so hard they could not make a speech.

[@sLeicy]

Very well said 😢

[@aorihanazari524]

Yeah I remember not believing the allegations after seeing the "evidence." I thought it all looked really normal after watching so many TV shows. I never 100% ruled bullying out (everything is possible), but it just didn't seem evidence of anything. But wow...they should have released all that information right at the beginning instead of years later. It's so odd that they didn't release that evidence.

[@ominousmist960]

Im so tired of these bully scandals. Ever since Seo Soojin lost literally her hopes and dreams to false accusations, i just look back at all the bullying scandals and wonder how many lost their dreams because of 1 single lie. Peoples lives just ruined in an instant. Truly heartbreaking. Great video as always ploopy. Ty.

[@itsarali]

Yeah I wonder how some people can do their best and be a good person and get their lives ruined for nothing while others can lie, manipulate, and hurt people and get away with it scot free. What causes that to happen?

[@GuranPurin]

For new gen fans who aren't aware of just how big this scandal hurt T-ara, they very well were on track to having the title of Nations Girl Group instead of SNSD had this not happened. This scandal basically happened at just the right time when SNSD's consistent huge releases dominated while support for T-ara absolutely tanked and they basically stole the show, giving Koreans a new GG to put all their support into. Not that SNSD was not successful of their own right, but the way T-ara basically had to flee to Japan and China for even a drop of support meant SNSD had free reign to take over GG K-POP. It was pretty much no coming back after this scandal and I always wonder what would have happened if things went differently. Very similar comparison (not due to a scandal though) is how BAP was very close to being the top BG around the time of the BAP vs EXO fanwars for 3rd gen BGs when they lost momentum at just the right time that EXO spiked in popularity. I mean BAP were huge and it felt like after they fell off, no one would even dream of comparing them to EXO's success at the time. It's just very wild to consider that the smallest thing can ruin a group's trajectory in almost an instant.

[@YuE2603]

This is why I take every KPOP bullying scandal with a grain of salt and don't start deciding who is the victim/bully especially if there is no definitive proof. Personally, I feel like some people don't even care about the victim/bully but just want a justification to hate on the people involved. If you look at more recent bullying scandal, literally NOTHING changed. People will jump on the hate train so fast even if they never even heard of the people who are involved in the scandal.

[@notminghao]

This is so sad the fact the group members worked so hard just because this girl wanted to be a victim? Thank you for sharing this story

[@andredrw289]

When I got into Kpop, this “scandal” wasn’t as fresh, like it was still going on but by the time I got into it, Hwayoung had already left. But I do remember all the hoopla when the truth finally came out and when T-ara won number 1 on a music show shortly after that and you could just feel the emotion coming from them. I really wish the CEO and all those staff members had come out sooner when it was still going on instead of way after the damage was done cause the toll this took on their mental health and just their careers was just chaotic. I mean they were up there with the big GGs like SNSD, Wonder Girls, 2ne1, Kara and this scandal just took them out. Great video and happy holidays!

[@moanhi]

T-ara was my ultimate in 2012 and T-ara is still my ultimate group in 2023. I get emotional everytime I watch them receive their first win post-scandal in the Show in 2017. It was definitely well deserved, especially as many of their best songs were released after the scandal e.g. Sexy Love, Sugar Free and Number 9.

[@Bilbojack4]

Day by Day was the first K-Pop song I ever heard in 2013, so T-ara will always be high in my heart. And they have so many great songs and choreographies !

[@moanhi]

@@Bilbojack4 I sorta almost want to believe those conspiracy theories that Big 3 companies were spreading some of the rumours. Supposedly they wanted T-ara to fail as they were even challenging SNSD in terms of popularity. But yess T-ara had it all, they have amazing singers, rappers, visuals and they were very entertaining in variety shows.

[@drk3249]

​@@moanhi omg why didn't I think of this, this may be ironic but I would actually feel more at east if that's the case because a top tier girl group destroyed just because of 1 girl is absolutely horrendous

[@UncleMarco]

You could do an unluckiest trainee segment about Kim Dani from MBK… her life would’ve been so different had this scandal not happened LMAO

[@asurafire5386]

I just realized the twins are actresses now I haven’t watched Tara mvs in a while so I never noticed. I never connected the dots that it was Hwayoung in hello my twenties

[@yari139]

She was actually pretty good in that show. But my understanding is she got fired from there too because she was difficult to work with or something like that, that story is also a little questionable, which is why she’s not in the second season.

[@darkmystique9163]

I really liked her there and when i found out what she had done I was so disappointed.

[@tallybarnie5453]

its crazy how many times groups had their career ruined or nearly ruined by "bullying" accusations that turn out not to be true or something like that. history really does repeat itself cus ppl don't learn

[@xiaoxing04]

Oh god the memories. I am a hardcore sone (snsd fan) at that time but i still followed this scandal in real time. Wild times. Felt bad for T-ara, they lost all their momentum they built for years

[@dreamcaught3876]

“i disagreed and persuaded the parents we shouldn’t fight each other in public.” he really is too good of a person to be a ceo. it’s honorable to not want to air out your dirty laundry, but he needed to realize that this was already being played out in the public and there was no turning back.

[@kyo88]

He just said that to make himself sounds like a good person. Most t-ara fans knew how terrible of a person and boss he was. He was never a good person.

[@krayzielyrics]

No, he wasn't, he's just trying to make himself look good. If you actually knew about their CEO and the things he did you would not say that. He was a toxic POS and made their working environment hell - this was quite known during this era of K-Pop too. Everyone hated him. He would threaten the girls constantly and make it known to them that they were replaceable. They were over-worked to exhaustion and the company would starve them. Hyomin was guesting on MBK Entertainment and one of the panel asked Hyomin why she would over-eat every time they would stop for commercial break. She said it was her only opportunity to eat since the company weren’t supervising her during this time. This video is good but it leaves out A LOT. Also, part of the reason why he didn't clarify is because the twins father was one of his close friends - that was how they really got into the group in the first place. T-ara's fans were so pissed on how poorly he handled this whole situation. KKS never clarified anything even though he KNEW T-ara members were innocent from the start.

[@aorihanazari524]

@@krayzielyrics O sh....

[@ManofSteele221]

I remember the Blackswan bullying scandal that almost ruined the group. As a kpop fan when the T-ara scandal happened, Blackswan's bullying scandal gave me the same vibes

[@Anonytjuh]

I remember this so well; the first cryptic tweets, the fake evidence, how T-ara got bullied out of Korea. This ordeal was the definition of being so much out of proportion, it was terrifying really. Til this day I still can't believe it happened and I'm glad all six ladies are alright today.

[@DeoxysDNA]

The comments on Hwayoung's instagram are just filled with snake,barf and middle finger emoji's as well as some hate comments. She stopped posting on it a long time ago. The hate probably got to her so even though she won an award I wouldn't say she got away with it. She will always have the cloud of what she did hovering over her career.

[@dramaqueen465]

This was truly a wild scandal. Caused so much drama and destruction

[@cuckoophendula8211]

Wow, I'm randomly up at 4am in America and early for a Ploopy video! And omg, on the topic of the very first kpop group I ever listened to before randomly stopping kpop altogether until 4th gen. Coming back to see what happened to T-ara, it's really one of the most tragic things I've ever read about (and I say this as someone who came back knee deep and well invested in the whole Soojin arc)

[@sp4cegrl27]

6am for me lol

[@toyland12]

#justice4soojin

[@YaGurlSunshine]

God at this point I really wonder if there's been any fake bullying scandal in k-pop that's been handled well, that hasn't resulted in an entirely innocent person or an entire groups careers being destroyed or set back for years. T-ara, Jimin from AOA, Soojin from (G)I-dle, Garam from Le Sserafim, it feels like whether companies deny it, ignore it, investigate, threaten law suits, try to smooth things over or reveal the actual truth etc. it doesn't seem to matter. Has there ever been any really serious accusations (not like, one random netizen online who got little traffic, people who actually were full on campaigned against by the public) where the idol came out on the other side with their reputation in tact? It's so easy to make shit up, provide no evidence of bullying, sometimes barely be able to prove they even knew each other in certain cases, but almost impossible to prove a negative. Hypothetically something COULD have happened, but despite there being no evidence that it did, it hypothetically could have and that's good enough for so many people. PLEASE I would love to hear from someone about a case where the company actually handled it successfully and got the idol through it so they could continue on with the career they had worked so hard for.

[@maryam-nusa]

I think mingyu’s “bullying” scandal was handled very well. Pledis told everyone they’ll start investigating and they did - they would update carats and let them know what they’ve found so far. It got to the point where people in his former school would come on and defend him. Even the person who people said was the one bullied came out and said mingyu was one of the people who always helped and was nice but some of his school friends were the mean ones. I think that was a scandal that was perfectly handled but I can’t really think of any other one

[@yolandamgulwa4869]

I got into kpop around mid 2021 when bullying scandals were picking up. I remember hearing about this case and AOA's. This is so crazy. I can't imagine how the members felt being accused of doing all these horrible things by someone who they thought was their friend 😢

[@AuraSoneCARAT]

Wow, I remember following this at the time it was happening. New K-Pop fans don’t realise how big T-Ara was back in the day, and how huge this scandal was. It was actually vile how they were treated throughout it, and even years after. They deserved so much better.

[@egoeimi333]

T-Ara, Soojin, Jimin (AOA), Garam all have been proven innocent, but knetizens destroyed dreams and careers because they judge, condemn and punishment based on nothing by lies and rumors. It will never change. When I discovered Kpop I was thrilled by the music but then the knetizens destroying dreams of young girls and harrassing them online turned me off. I began to not enjoy Kpop anymore and changed my mind about visiting Seoul. This horrible way knetizens treat these idols is disgusting.

[@xmochilove]

Garam was not exactly 'innocent'. She had her record revealed of having received a level 5 school punishment. That wasn't fabricated. She wasn't necessarily a bully, but she went full vigilante with her friends and harassed someone (who wasn't innocent either) outside their home for hours.

[@mavel2038]

​@@xmochilove after the bully spread child porn about her friend? I think spreading a photo of a minor in their underwear then transfering schools to avoid punishment is a bit worse then harsh words.

[@itsarali]

Don’t just blame Knetizens though. So many international fans were compiling clips about Jimin from AOA and how she’s a ‘bully’ And lots of internationals also boycotted T-ARA It’s an issue with the public in general, as well as the liars and manipulators who play the victim card

[@thedisastrouslifeofnikocad9857]

jealousy is a green eyed monster

[@zacharikurbah6358]

I remember this, they found success internationally, the bullying scandal was fake. Merry Christmas

[@AndyBrussainJackson93]

If I've learned anything as a fan of a K-pop group since 2015, it's that people will always look for the slightest mistake or even a made-up story to justify hate. People are envious and like to see a person destroyed.

[@mangojelly23]

i lived this in the flesh too... t-ara was one of my faves back in the 2010s so watching them falling apart was so heartbreaking; and the worst part is that netizens have learned nothing, i think that because people have normalized that the accused don't get their deserved punishment to "get over it" that these things continue to happen (see Kim Garam's case) since it's not their career ruined right

[@campaignresources]

Thank you for this video. T-ARA is my favorite group, but I discovered Kpop in 2018 so I'm glad I didn't have to live through this heartbreaking scandal. Their comeback of Tiki Taka and All Kill are classic T-ARA, but I wish Soyeon and Boram had joined them.

[@Love_youYes]

At this point Bullying scandals are not even believable

[@natatatm]

Regardless of whether it was real or not, it's wild to me that K-pop stans are so against in group bullying when they bully the idols All The Time.

[@JamaicaDiamond24]

Omg I remember this. This is why I don’t hop on these hero trains to protect so called victims.

[@bunwonie]

I'm waiting for the next documentary videos! Glad to see you post dance videos aswell. Just hope that you'll still do this type of content 🫶

[@SpringNotes]

Can the other members, or the company, sue for defamation ? She's allowed to get away with destroying a group ?

[@jijipir4220]

She never claimed she was bullied.

[@escritora84]

I got into kpop in 2012, but didn't get into T-ara or know about their scandal until about 2014. The group's biggest mistake was airing their grievances on social media, it looks messy. I believe Hwayoung would've exposed herself eventually - netizens would've picked up on her faking injuries, skipping concerts, and mistreating people. I wondered if Hwayoung and her sister had something over the CEO, some kind of pull at that company, because it doesn't make sense for the him to not step up and handle the situation until years later. His poor management and netizen drama ruined T-ara's career. It's even more sad considering T-ara was THAT group and one of CCM/MBK's most successful groups. The company never recovered and later groups like Coed School, Speed and DIA were never able to match their popularity or commercial success. I don't think newer/younger kpop fans realize how huge they were or how unique their sound was for their time, their songs, concepts and choreo are iconic.

[@mariyannuism]

It was absolutely suspected that the twins come from a very rich and influential family and the ceo was simply too much of a wuss to get rid of them when they started bullying everyone. Plus the fact that hwasnake is still getting drama roles to this day... she definitely has strong connections backing her

[@shreyatamrakar3142]

Please upload a new documentary!!!!!!!! I miss youuu

[@Sam-love23]

Fr

[@Rouge_Ice]

Another informative video from Evangeline. Thank you once again!

[@hyokpopper782]

I remember when this happened. I had just gotten into T-ARA with their Day by Day release, and my two biases in the group were Hyomin and Hwayoung. So I was just beside myself when this “scandal” happened. I stuck with the group despite everything, but in 2017 when it was revealed Hwayoung lied… I still to this day can’t look at the albums, photocards, and merch with her on it and not feel a bit sick. I hate that it took so long for T-ARA to be redeemed. They would have been big. As big as or maybe even bigger than SNSD if this hadn’t happened… :(

[@YungXin]

I think it's important to keep in mind that the mindset of believing the victims doesn't mean taking the accusers' side automatically, considering we do not know who the victims are when allegations are not proven. it is taking the allegations seriously and conducting proper investigations instead that is important in actually giving victims justice for what happened to them

[@lsgoh2357]

Thanks for this video! I heard of the Tara situation before but I never knew it was this bad

[@XVa-uj8m]

Was Hwayoung even the star of the group?! Why was she so arrogant as to help sink the group?! Why did she think SHE was so special?!

[@NekoNyan]

She reminds me so much of Kwon Mina. Ig they're all just built that way

[@emma.l.m]

THIS! You said it all. I was also a fan of T-ara back then so I have the same reaction as you when I see new scandals every year. Netizens just chose to believe what fits their narrative and then collectively bully who they think the mean people are. And everytime when the truth come out the same people are like « justice for ___ ! 🥺 » as if they weren’t the ones that actually are responsible of the situation escalating. Ugh

[@13din]

Too many innocent idols, t ara, soojin, garam, jimin, hyunjin. I’m not sure who else I’m missing

[@Unixquelol]

Can you pls tell me what kind of bullying scandal did hyunjin get into? Cause I'm a new straykids fan

[@eynapoli]

@@UnixquelolHi, I haven’t been a stay when those things happened but from what I’ve gathered he was accused by a girl of being her bully at school. Hyunjin then had to go on hiatus for months and missed out on schedules like kingdom (he appeared in the first ep and not anymore after that), wasn’t allowed to post anything to bubble or be in contact with the fandom at all even though the rumours had pretty much no real evidence since he went to an all boys school so how could be this girls school bully? It was a really hard time for everyone because it wasn’t certain if he’d ever come back to the group. Anyway now it’s been easily proven that hes innocent but stays were really mad at jyp for handling the situation like they did.

[@Unixquelol]

@@eynapoli thx sm for the info! Cause when I became a stay a few months ago and heard that hyunjin went on hiatus for a long time, I thought that he got bullied a lot so he went on a break

[@night_sky_hope]

He really received hate at the time. One of the most heartbreaking of their contents is his last live on vlive before going on hiatus. People were continuously sending hate to him and telling him to stop speaking and to leave. When he was innocent. His hiatus was indeed really hard but I think, considering they were in a survival show at the time (which added a lot of stress) and how rampant were the things in that year with multiple similar scandals like this, it was the best thing for him, the group, and their mental health. 2021 was just the year netizens were on a full on witch hunt and did not care at all about spreading hate and fake rumours. And even though he was away, SKZ still found ways to include him with subtle details. Like, they made 8 rings for I'll Be Your Man performance and the statue had Hyunjin's ring. They won the show for him. They won for him an opportunity to see them more in Kingdom Week.

[@shrutipanday5918]

@@night_sky_hope which v live was the one before his hiatus??

[@xXluluchanelXx]

I am so blown away by all this -- T-ara was my first favorite kpop group and I didn't even realize there was more to know about idols (like that there might be accusations of bullying) until so many years later. this is all new to me! playing Bo Peep Bo Peep in honor of these original queens

[@chiyul7576]

I was watching old clips of her last night!!! And the day before I was checking your channel for a new video!!! Omg!

[@laveniaghosh8303]

hi ploppy please do more interesting topics like this one, of kpop and cpop .Always love and appreciate ur content :)

[@NFKTN]

the fact this still happens in the industry today, they never learn

[@carrieheartsmusic6797]

Yay! A ploopy video just in time for Christmas! ❤

[@WithinDeathLies]

Thanks for covering this topic.

[@chunyipli3410]

Thanks for share this interesting story

[@thebighoney9034]

I randomly stumbled upon this video when I was trying to find something to watch while eating lunch. I never listened to K-Pop. The only time I ever listened to K-Pop was during high school when Gangnam style was everywhere. But somehow I stayed and watched the entire video being so invested in the story. Your narration and script is awesome, great job !

[@jchan8539]

Because of this, I don't have a knee jerk reaction to this stuff. I always think of what happened to t-ara. When this came about again, I saw people defending what was done to t-ara as it didn't hurt them. They still had jobs after it.

[@p.a.amonbebe8682]

This also happened to April but people still refuse to see and accept the truth

[@Hqne3n_I1]

Thank you for your videos, I enjoy watching them!! Also, merry Christmas!!

[@kobeeeeeee803]

Thanks for sharing this story with usssss!!

[@UncleMarco]

I will be bitter about this until the day I die….

[@shellyb3127]

Ive been waiting for this video!

[@giovannaamber228]

april’s whole bullying scandal was just like this too

[@user-og4ue6mk4w]

I love your videos so much and you should definitely talk about 9muses next

[@my8O8]

I'm very glad that japan and china supported them at that time cause i don't want to know what would happen to the girls if it wasn't like that

[@nia8292]

It's always a good day when ploopy uploads, also Merry Christmas 🎄

[@jessiehuysman7955]

I wonder why no one cleared up the situation earlier so the members didn't have to suffer for all those years🥲

[@ecodes8498]

The people that knew the real situation were the staff members and by the apology of the CEO, we can conclude that he wanted everyone to be silence and wait for this to blow over and be forgotten about it. Because of that, no staff could say anything at the time. He really did not expect the public to keep grunge for so long.

[@jessiehuysman7955]

@@ecodes8498 I feel so bad for the members

[@michelle5564]

now Seunghan from riize is also facing baseless rumours because of someone trying to defame his name. sm being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, has a reputation of keeping silent and leave fans hanging

[@takeru3937]

This one is a case of him being a dumbass teenager lmao

[@JadestonePony]

This whole incident makes me so sad. I actually became a fan of T-ara after everything had blown over, and I just feel so sad that the girls still don't get nearly as much recognition as they probably would have gotten if this had never happened. When people talk about gen 2 groups, T-ara is often left out despite how big they were at their peak. It's so unfair that their whole careers were ruined over this. :(

[@MoyaBrennan6825]

It’s sad how that scandal ruined their group. Their music was so good!

[@kazuhasgloves]

Ayyy !!! Welcome back, Ploopy! 🔥🔥🔥

[@TheeYouTubee]

Ugh this situation makes me so upset because they DID not deserve this! It took so long for the truth to come out and the public to recognize it

[@IonIsFalling7217]

Imagine being so anti-bullying you bully and entire group out of the country.

[@INMEntertainment]

looking forward to the reviewing all the 2023 debuts video

[@Nano_IV]

This scandal was major... the consequences were brutal. Not even the fans were safe. Other fans were on the side of the person being "bullied", while they themselves were bullying others. It was very nasty work. And even now that the truth is out, some people are still on denial.

[@AA-ed6ek]

The fans were just as guilty. Pretending to be innocent now is nauseating. Once an accusation is made you're screwed. Americans would know a thing or two about that kind of culture. Allegations=guilty.

[@rebeccajn297]

omg yooo i was playing travel town when the ad started playing :D

[@jijipir4220]

I remember fighting with everyone who keeps on uploading fabricated videos and photos of T-ara, most of them are SM stans. 🤧

[@havierrz]

Love this Video Ploopy!

[@i_cant_love_only_one_fandom]

This is the best Christmas gift!!!

[@LordLuke]

Merry Christmas Evangeline! I hope you have a wonderful day

[@missjojohuia3366]

Merry Christmas Ploops!! Love ya! 💖🎄🎁✨

[@pinkpeonies__]

great video! merry christmas

[@LovelyLara123]

Merry Christmas Evangeline!

[@AlliRayy]

I just cant believe how people IMMEDIATELY take the side of the person accusing. Where’s the proof? LOOK FOR FACTUAL PROOF FIRST

[@MarkOfKeys]

That rice cake rumor was WILD😂

[@BREVE1024]

Saw this as recommended but didn’t watch it and didn’t think much of it while also watching hello my twenties and now this shows up again, such a coincidence

[@commercialfree]

T-ARA's bullying incident is a good case study on how to handle controversy.

[@brandoniswhoiam]

I’ve been wondering when you’d ever cover T-ara’s case!

[@Akursedtime]

I stopped commenting on bullying scandals because the internet can be so fickle. Staying neutral helps. When Soojin had hers, I didn't defend her nor commented on it even though I really wanted to say something to defend her. But if I was wrong in my position, then you would have to deal with whatever comes next.

[@user-hl2nw5sm2n]

That's sad. I was a big fan of the gen 1 and gen 2 bands like T-ARA, SNSD, Beast and Suju ( I still listen to their music from those times till today), and I was pretty young when this fake bullying scandal broke to the point I didn't really know much about it. I thought T-ARA just kinda faded off instead of literally being bullied off. But this and the whole situation with Beast and some other things I've learned from acquaintances within the kpop industries led me to really lose faith in this industry as a whole. I'm glad that at least got a form of closure, but it's sad that the people who made their life miserable went on to become super star and didn't get any sort of retribution.