Is Lesserafim K-pop’s most controversial band? 5 scandals revealed, from Kim Garam’s bullying accusation to Source Music’s alleged lack of support for Gfriend
- The six-member girl group under Source Music was accused of ‘plagiarising’ dance moves from Twice’s I Can’t Stop Me in its debut music video for Fearless
- Fans were hoping Lesserafim would be more like Blackpink, and were disappointed with the short tennis skirts and heels, considering Eunchae is only 15 years old
The band recently made its debut with its first official music video Fearless (“I’m Fearless” is an anagram of the band’s name). Though it sparked rave reviews, the group has in fact been causing controversy since it first made headlines.
From gossip mongers trying to drag up a member’s bullying past, to the group’s choreography receiving tons of backlash from netizens, Lesserafim continues to be a hot topic on everyone’s lips. Here we take a look at five of the scandals surrounding the highly anticipated girl band.
1. Kim Garam’s bullying past
Soon after Source Music unveiled the group’s six members, one of them drew particularly negative attention online: Kim Garam was accused of being a bully at school. Not only that, but as quoted from Meaww, “a photo of Garam standing in front of a chalkboard with pornographic drawings was released”, which spread like wildfire on the internet.
However, Hybe and its subsidiary Source Music quickly squashed the overnight scandal by releasing an official statement.
“Since yesterday, there have been accusations made against her [Kim Garam] on various online communities, and we have conducted our own internal investigation on these claims. The result of our investigation is as follows. The accusations that maliciously slandered Kim Garam were maliciously edited to overemphasise the events that occurred during a time when she was making friends in her early middle school days.”
It continued, “Contrary to the claims, it was confirmed through a third-party statement that Kim Garam was actually a victim of school bullying such as cyberbullying and malicious rumours when she entered school.”
The official statement ended with, “We would like to reiterate that we will take legal action without any chance of settlement,” as the allegations contained attempted defamation.
