T-Ara x Hwayoung Controversy

 

Over the weekend, T-ara has been the hot topic throughout the world of K-Pop, causing many fans to worry. Fans’ worst fears were then confirmed, when CCM (Core Contents Media) announced that Hwayoung would no longer be a part of T-ara. Let’s take a look at how this chaotic story came about.

Stage 1: The Plan

[7/25-26] T-ara‘s Budokan concert for ‘Jewelry Box‘ in Japan were treated to special unit performances from the girls. Held on July 25th and 26th, the members captivated the audience members with special individual and unit performances during the concerts. Eunjung, Jiyeon, and Hyomin put on a hip hop dance show to the tune of EXILE‘s “Choo Choo Train” while Soyeon let out her sexy side with a cover of Koda Kumi‘s “Cutie Honey“. Boram and Qri formed their own unit called ‘Unnis’ and showed off their adorable aegyo to AKB48‘s “Aitakatta“. Hwayoung was not able to perform throughout most of the concert due to a leg injury.

[7/25] Towards the beginning of the Budokan performance, Soyeon, Eunjung, Qri, Boram, Jiyeon, and Hyomin each greeted the fans one at a time, and afterwards Hwayoung came on stage with her crutches, and the fans encouraged her with their cheers. When the concert was nearly over, T-ara performed their hit song “Day By Day“, and finally Hwayoung appeared and performed her rap portion on stage on a chair.


After the concert, the T-ara members then posted a few tweets that netizens assumed was directed towards fellow member Hwayoung in a teasing manner, and the fans were shocked at the girls lashing out at Hwayoung and the fans are now questioning T-ara’s teamwork.

Hyomin had began by writing, “The differences in levels of determination^^, Let us all have more determination. Fighting!!!”


Member Jiyeon then resonded, “The differences in levels of determination ^^, Always be humble ^^ and sensible ^^ I applaud you, acting genius ^^”


Eunjung added, “A position can make or break a person, but determination can make a person too. Sigh, it’s unfortunate. You have to know to take care of the people around you.”


In response to this, Hwayoung had tweeted, “Sometimes, even determination alone is not enough. At times like these, I feel upset but I trust that it’s a blessing in disguise from the heavens. God, you know everything right?”


Member Hyoyoung of 5dolls who also happens to be Hwayoung’s twin sister then wrote, “My better half is suffering. My heart hurts. No matter what anyone else says, Hwayoung, you can get through this,” and Hwayoung responded to her saying, “You’re the best.”
Many fans have interpreted these tweets to be attacks against Hwayoung. They believe that the members were pointing out that Hwayoung did not show enough determination, and thus by not performing throughout the entire concert, she had caused some inconveniences for the other members as they had to hurriedly figure out how to carry on their performances without her.

Their agency at first argued that the girls’ accounts had been hacked, but it seems unlikely that all of their individual Twitters could have been hacked at the same time.

 Stage 2: Commitment

  

[7/27] On the 28th, Core Contents Media shared that it would make a major announcement about T-ara on July 30th. Through official reports released to the media on the 28th, Core Contents Media revealed, “CEO Kim Kwang Soo, who is currently in Japan for T-ara’s concert, will return to Korea on the 30th, and at 1 pm, he will make a major announcement regarding T-ara.”

Fans were curious to hear what this will be about as it’s pretty rare for an agency to give a forewarning about an upcoming big announcement about its idol groups, and also because no specific details have been revealed about what the announcement will be about.

 She also previously tweeted a photo of herself and twin sister Hyoyoung holding hands, writing, “Ryu! Thanks for being by my side. I love you”, which seems to be a response to the supportive messages Hyoyoung had written on her own Twitter.

 

  Hwayoung later recently updated her Twitter with a message that has left fans curious.

On the morning of July 28th (KST), she wrote, “The support of my family and my fans is worth so much to me. Please watch over me.”

  

Hyoyoung herself is attracting attention for some of her mysterious tweets that follow after the controversial tweets. One of her tweets read, “What does it matter if your face is pretty. It’s your heart that has to be pretty. Is a person who is unwell, not a person? I’m hurting too. I want to seriously cry. I should just practice instead..” leaving fans to wonder what she could be referring to.

Reports are pouring in that Boram unfollowed Hwayoung on Twitter on the evening of July 28th. Boram follows the other T-ara members’ Twitter accounts, so many are concerned that she is not following Hwayoung, particularly since Hwayoung continues to follow Boram, but Boram never actually followed Hwayoung in the first place.

Stage 3: The Ammunition 

[7/29] First, tweets from the members of T-ara “teasing” Hwayoung after their Budokan concert caused quite a bit of controversy. Shortly after, their agency CCM (Core Contents Media) announced that they would be making a major announcement regarding T-ara. If that wasn’t enough, member Hwayoung, who was not too long ago in the spotlight for her nipple slip wardrobe malfunction, left an ambiguous tweet.

 Fans are speculating that CCM forced Hwayoung to do an intentional nipple slip during their Inkigayo performance months ago, and because she did it, the members are mad at her and bullying her. This incident would’ve been considered a complete accident, if it weren’t for a previous group from CCM, known as SeeYa (disbanded), who also had a nip-slip incident. If you notice, CCM is the only agency that has ever had nip-slip incidents in the history of live music programs.

 Major entertainment sites reached out to industry insiders to gain more perspective on this matter, and here’s what was learned (these are rumors, don't bash/rage just yet): *CCM forced both nip-slip incidents as a publicity stunt
*Member Jiyeon’s live strip cam incident in the past was leaked by CCM on purpose, and then covered up by CCM because Jiyeon was misbehaving, to teach her a lesson (i.e. we can ruin your career if you don’t follow orders)
*The big announcement is either that Hwayoung is going to be kicked out of the group or that it may even be Jiyeon, because she is still “misbehaving” (Half turned to be true.)
*The big announcement may possibly be that T-ara is disbanding completely.
*All of this is another major publicity stunt for an upcoming event or promotion


These speculations have come from idol group managers, reporters and industry insiders who have been around T-ara over the past few weeks, and choose to remain anonymous.

 

[7/29] Netizens claimed to discover more and more proof shots that supposedly prove the bullying rumors to be true. Online community boards have been posting such screencaps of various moments throughout the girls’ careers back to back, shocking netizens with the content. On one Japanese broadcast, videos showed Eunjung forcefully feeding Hwayoung a rice cake into her mouth, while on one episode of KBS‘s ‘Star Life Theater‘, Hyomin was caught poking Hwayoung in the eye while lifting her arm.
In another scene, netizens noticed Jiyeon making fun of Hwayoung for reading in the car, stating, “She’s only acting like that because she’s in front of the camera. As someone who’s in the same team as her, this is my first time seeing her reading.”
Soyeon was also caught approaching Hwayoung (who was sitting in a corner) and giving her candy, stating, “This was the candy I dropped on the floor before.”

 

[7/29] Fans have been demanding that Eunjung be expelled from all broadcasts featuring the idol. Beginning on July 28th, the bulletin boards of MBC‘s ‘We Got Married‘, where she has been a fixed cast member since March 2011, and SBS‘s ‘Five Fingers‘, a drama that recently cast her, have been flooded with posts petitioning for her removal. Her role since then seem to be in jeopardy.

Stage 4: The War

[7/30] Core Contents Media announced today that one of its members, Hwayoung, will be leaving the group. CCM’s CEO, Kim Kwang Soo, announced the departure in a press release written by the president himself. “In deference to the complaints by T-ara’s staff of 19 people (5 stylists, 7 hair & makeup, 5 on-site managers, 2 team managers), Hwayoung’s contract as an artist will be voided effective immediately with no conditions.”
Kim Kwang Soo denied any correlation with the recent controversy that erupted following tweets from the T-ara members that were interpreted by many as one-sided bullying against Hwayoung. “We wish to impress upon the fact that this has nothing to do with the ‘bullying’ reports surrounding T-ara,” CCM said. “Although the staff of Core Contents Media stayed up into early morning discussing with the T-ara members who all wanted to stay with Hwayoung, we apologize in saying that we could not forsake the arguments of the staff members.”
“We deeply apologize for the many incidents which made everyone who loved T-ara nervous and worried, and we have nothing but sadness to convey such an unsettling incident on their third anniverary. We also apologize again to the T-ara members and wish Hwayoung all the best as a powerful rapper,” CCM continued, “since Hwayoung has great potential as a rapper we decided to end her contract without conditions and we believe that she will grow into the future as a free artist.”

Hwayoung posted a quick sentence on Twitter that seemed to summarize her thoughts on the matter. “…facts without any truth,” she stated simply. It is not hard to link it to CCM’s recent press release relaying the reasons behind her withdrawal from T-ara.

 Twin star Hyoyoung also expressed her feelings of shock, with a vague tweet on Twitter.

Kim Kwang Soo, sat down for a quick interview with South Korean media outlet Ilgan Sports.

 The press release is a bit vague. It seems to have actually inflated the controversy.
I can’t reveal everything. It’s the least amount of courtesy for the departing member. Please think carefully about who will be hurt if the truth is revealed.


There were reports of bullying. Are the fights between the members a big reason in the departure?
No. The relationship between the members are not a big problem. In fact, once you take control of a team, small problems can erupt. The bigger problem is the hardships faced by the staff members.


The problems with the staff was also in the official press release. What kind of problems existed?
I don’t want to go into detail, nor do I want to make personal attacks. But the staff were very tired after driving for the entire night and taking care of hair and makeup. There were several managers who cried, saying they wanted to quit. Although the artists are important, I believe that the sweat and tears of the staff are equally as important. I could not stand by watching this destruction of teamwork any longer.


If you go into a little more detail, would that not quell the controversy?
There were so many issues, but I really do not want to shed light on any of them, so I am keeping quiet. There were many examples of yelling at the members and breaking down the teamwork. How would the T-ara members feel, who had trained for over three years? In order to not inflate this issue any further, I hope (Hwayoung) stays quiet.

 Core Contents Media recently revealed some of Hwayoung’s unacceptable behavior in the past, furthering the mudslinging. According to CCM, after their Budokan concert and return to Korea on July 27th, T-ara was preparing to go on stage for a live broadcast of KBS‘s ‘Music Bank‘. With only two groups before them left to go, Hwayoung suddenly decided that she did not want to perform on stage that day. The agency stated that in order to prevent an accident on live TV, members Eunjung and Hyomin were pressed to learn Hwayoung’s rap segment in the short amount of time they had before their turn. With the new pressure, Hyomin was clearly nervous and ended up making a mistake during the rap segment. 

On the way home, Hwayoung, in front of fans and reporters, threw down her crutches and sat on the floor, threatening to yell at the managers in public. It has also been revealed that Hwayoung has shown both fans and reporters a similar side to her, with unacceptable actions and behavior on the set of ‘Music Bank’.
CCM CEO Kim Kwang Soo stated, “We will not be revealing any more of Hwayoung’s similar behaviors outside of the ‘Music Bank’ incident because we do want to protect her. I am also sorrowed by the words left on Hwayoung’s Twitter.”

 With all that happening within the three hours, who really knows the outcome of T-Ara. Which ever side you choose to be on(Hwayoung or CCM's), remember that only Hwayoung and the T-Ara members know the real truth.