K-Pop interviews can get quite controversial at times with either a lack of research or plain disrespect, and that has led to some pretty memorable moments that could serve as a guide of what not to do when interviewing idols.
During an appearance on Radio Star, (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon was yet another victim of uninformed interviewers as she was confronted with an uncomfortable and inappropriate question that left fans both shocked and frustrated. At the beginning of the interview, Soyeon introduced (G)I-DLE’s impressive achievements, including their seven Rookie of the Year awards and their first music show win within just 20 days of debut. Despite this, host Kim Gura seemed completely unaware of these accomplishments as he asked her how her group was doing with achievements.
Kim Gura bluntly asked: “Would we know your song if we heard it?” and continued to explain that, with so many rookie groups debuting, it’s hard for him to keep track of them all, as he said the line: “We only know that ITZY is a popular trending group.” Then, without any hesitation, he directly asked Soyeon the inappropriate question: “Are you on the same level as ITZY?”
Fans of both (G)I-DLE and ITZY were quick to criticize Kim Gura for his question, which many felt was unnecessary and disrespectful. Comparing two successful groups in such a manner seemed to downplay their individual accomplishments and the question even implied a competition between the two, which fans found uncomfortable.
Soyeon, maintaining her composure, responded diplomatically, pointing out that while ITZY had already won 1st place on a music show from a public broadcasting station, (G)I-DLE was still “working towards it.”
Despite the awkwardness of the question, Soyeon’s professionalism was highly praised as fans were left in disbelief over the lack of preparation from the interviewer, who seemed unaware of (G)I-DLE’s success, even after Soyeon had personally introduced them to the group!
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It looks like idols simply can’t catch a break when it comes to unnecessary and unrelated questions, as Tomorrow by Together once found themselves face-to-face with American politics during an interview. Back in 2020, TXT joined the online KCON event where they ended up doing an interview on Good Day New York via a video call, during which, they were suddenly asked about Donald Trump’s political rally.
The interviewer brought up the event seemingly out of the blue, making it clear that even she wasn’t sure about the question as she asked the members: “Over the weekend, the president of the United States was having a big rally. And he thought a million people would show up, but a lot of K-pop fans said they actually got the tickets and faked out the president.”
The group was asked if they had any idea about the event that thousands of K-Pop fans had been arranging on social media, as it was a well-talked-about topic in the US at the time. However, the members didn’t seem to have any idea what the interviewer was talking about as their faces expressed shock and confusion regarding the question. Ultimately, Yeonjun seemed to find the best way of answering the question as he simply answered that they had no idea and were simply trying to prepare and practice for KCON.
Many fans criticized the interviewer for even asking the question in the first place, as TXT is a Korean group with Korean members, so it wouldn’t make any sense for them to stay updated on American politics, especially since they were only there for KCON.
Shockingly, the interviewer herself actually came out to apologize after seeing all the backlash on social media, as she had claimed to have seen it trending on Twitter and had had no idea it would upset people. Maybe she will do some more research so she can avoid situations like this in the future.
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When it comes to interviewers not doing their homework, it’s something that unfortunately seems to keep happening, and it’s always called out as a huge deal by K-Pop fans. Just this past month, BTS’s Jin attended a radio show interview where the interviewer seemed to be missing a pretty huge piece of the puzzle when she started speaking about how much she loved Coldplay. The interviewer asked Jin whether or not he had seen them live, seemingly without realizing Jin’s history with the band.
Jin then had to clarify to her that not only had he seen them live; but he had even performed with them on stage in Argentina. His song ‘The Astronaut’ is also co-written by Coldplay, which he performed alongside Chris Martin.
A lot of fans were understandably disappointed to see the surprise on the interviewer’s face since it’s usually expected that some research is done before asking questions. Netizens generally criticized the interviewer for this lack of attention, especially since it seemed downright disrespectful to Jin. One user commented: “With all due respect, it is a reporter’s job to research their guest. This isn’t our first rodeo together.”
Others even called the moment embarrassing since it suddenly became Jin’s job to educate her on a topic that she very confidently brought up and should have been aware of beforehand.
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Interviewers can definitely be extremely bold at times, and former Day6 member Jae once experienced exactly how brazen they could get when he was asked about his controversial exit from his former group.
When Jae first distanced himself from Day6, it was framed as something temporary as he worked on his solo projects, however, as more time passed and Jae seemed to have gotten himself into several controversies, it became quite clear that he might never return to the group. And it wasn’t long before the rumor was made official, as JYPE announced his departure from Day6 on January 2022.
In Jae’s internet space, it quickly became obvious that he wasn’t fond of talking about what had led to his exit, as he often shifted the conversation onto what his own plans for the future were. However, it seems like not everyone understood the implied taboo of his exit, as an interviewer once boldly asked him if he was still in contact with his former members.
Clearly taken aback by the question, Jae kept things positive as he revealed that they would only exchange texts “once in a blue moon”, but that he wished them well. However, despite Jae’s polite answer, fans were pretty upset about the interviewer bringing up the past as they felt it was disrespectful to bring up his former group when the interview was supposed to be about his current work. As one fan put it, it seems like Jae is very eager for everyone to move on from this time in his life, which is why the question felt quite tasteless, making things more awkward.
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During a press conference for their album ‘MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA’, BTS also faced an awkward and controversial moment when a reporter brought up a past plagiarism allegation. The focus of the event was on their latest work, but the surprise question revisited some claims that had appeared regarding their 2016 song, ‘Blood, Sweat & Tears’, which many deemed inappropriate and irrelevant to the event.
The situation started when the reporter awkwardly phrased a question, clumsily bringing up the ‘WINGS’ album while vaguely alluding to the accusations by asking if it drew inspiration from another source.
Initially, attempting to give the interviewer an out, the members seemed unsure of what was actually being asked as Suga asked for clarification, saying: “Are you asking about the artworks that inspired our albums, especially ‘WINGS’ and ‘Blood, Sweat & Tears’? Did I understand that correctly?”
However, instead of walking back his accusations, the reporter took a more direct approach by directly mentioning the plagiarism allegations saying: “I know this question can be uncomfortable, but I wanted to hear what you had to say about the claims of plagiarism involving ‘Blood, Sweat & Tears’.”
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Suga, who maintained his composure, gave a short and professional answer to the question as he made it clear that the company was handling everything, ending with a firm “Thank you.”, officially shutting down the question.
The rest of the members appeared visibly taken aback by what had just gone down, and their expressions of surprise and discomfort echoed exactly what fans were feeling as they couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed either. While many praised BTS for their professionalism, there were also a lot of netizens who criticized the reporter for bringing up a three-year-old controversy, especially considering the panel was supposed to be about their most recent album and achievements.
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As many fans might unbearably remember, KARA’s Goo Hara once found herself at the center of an extremely uncomfortable and invasive line of questioning during a televised appearance. The incident unfolded when the hosts of a variety show asked Hara what type of question she feared answering the most and Hara candidly replied that she didn’t want to discuss dating, clearly setting a boundary. However, her attempt to avoid the topic was immediately dismissed, as Super Junior’s Kyuhyun immediately joked about her being the: “dating idol.”
Hara, who was visibly uncomfortable at this point, pushed her water bottle across the table in protest, shocking viewers with her actions, something which is extremely rare for idols to do on television. But rather than shifting the conversation, the hosts continued pressing her about her personal life. When Hara explained that her opinion was thanks to the media’s unforgiving coverage, host Kim Gu Ra came with an even more inappropriate remark, digging into what the media was saying: “Once articles keep coming out, people will stop caring so much. But I was wondering, your relationship doesn’t seem like it was that passionate?”
It was clear that Hara wasn’t expecting this much probing into the topic as she then immediately attempted to defend herself by clarifying that she was just busy with Japanese promotions at the time of the rumors surrounding her relationship. Yet, the probing didn’t stop as Kyuhyun added fuel to the fire by saying that if he were to speak, Hara’s career would be over. At this point, Hara’s frustration boiled over as she was even brought to tears, saying: “What do you mean, I’ll be over?! You can’t be 100% confident, either!”
The incident left viewers stunned and drew heavy criticism toward the hosts for their lack of sensitivity. Still, many pointed out that this kind of questioning was, unfortunately, a common experience for female idols during that period. Reporters have no excuse to behave this way, yet they continue crossing boundaries. Sadly, Hara isn’t the first, nor will she be the last, female celebrity subjected to invasive and disrespectful questions about her personal life, treated as if privacy doesn’t apply to her.
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Whether interviews or not, people should remember that KPOP Idols are humans too. They deserve basic human decency and respect regardless of the venue.
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