The True Story of the T-ara Bullying Scandal
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Sunday, July 19, 2020
11) What would have happend if Hwayoung had not been added?
All of that is without even considering what we know about Areum, who said that Hwayoung was a friend who took good care of her and that she was hurt by the staff. That suggests Hwayoung's bad relationship with the staff may have been more their fault than hers. It seems that they didn't like new members, and Areum lasted a little under a year in T-ara before she jumped ship (or was pushed overboard, it is not clear which). If it was her choice the stress of being in a group accused of bullying was surely part of the reason, but the loss of her friend Hwayoung and the staff problem were likely to be part of it too, probably more than the Hyoyoung incident.
The second alternative history is one in which no additions are made to the group. T-ara's most successful period was when Hwayoung was a member and she did help to attract new fans, but it is reasonable to think that Roly Poly and Lovey Dovey would still have been very big hits without her. The Budokan concerts would have passed without incident but T-ara's excessive workload would have caused problems eventually. Early in 2012 the members complained that they had not had a day off in over a year. To achieve long-term success the management needed to keep them happy and excited about they were doing and encourage them to work together for the good of the group, but KKS responded by threatening to replace members if he thought they weren't meeting his expectations. That is a terrible way to manage them that was likely to make them feel that they were in competition with each other and increase stress and tension, and it was probably one of the reasons for the conflict that led to the scandal.
Without Hwayoung the crisis would not have come when it did, but it was the scandal that slowed down their schedule and without it they would have kept working far too hard. Something probably would have gone badly wrong eventually; whether that would be their mental health, conflict within the group just a general loss of interest resulting in tired and lacklustre performances I don't know. The last of those is something they were criticised for even before KKS said he would replace members who fell below the standards he demanded.
T-ara were so badly managed that they probably would have run into serious trouble soon, with or without added members. From the position they were actually in, if Hwayoung's injury had not happened when it did they might have had a scandal about bullying Areum or Dani instead. They did have a mini-scandal when Areum left, which was as fake as the one involving Hwayoung. Because it was what people expected of T-ara it didn't become a big thing and didn't affect their popularity, so there was no attempt to demonise Areum, but what would have happened if the Areum scandal had been the first? It would have been just like the Hwayoung one, with T-ara hated for being bullies and Areum denounced as a victim-playing snake by the "loyal" fans.
Monday, July 13, 2020
10) Is Kim Kwang Soo the anonymous former staff member? (AFSM)
Reasons for being suspicious about AFSM's motive and honesty
Anonymity
Accusation of playing the victim.
AKP staff reported "She'll be fully opening up about her leave from T-ara on next week's episode of 'Taxi'."
An AKP user wrote "Hwayoung will also open up about the past controversy with T-ara."
“Again using t-ara”
Looks like she still always has to bring them up to boost her 'career'"
She really is a good actress, she fooled a whole nation into believing she was "bullied" and now she tries to get popular with that because back then she realized that she never stood out in T-ara at all lol”
The story told by AFSM was ready to go immediately when the show was aired and appears to be a premeditated attack on the twins, not a reaction to the broadcast. This is a definite red flag. Either AFSM decided, without having seen the interview, to prepare the story and claim that s/he couldn't watch Hwayoung play the victim any more (something she never did), or it was prepared by MBK, perhaps after a tip-off from someone at TVN, but it is very possible that MBK was involved from the very beginning.
KKS knew people in the industry and he could easily arrange to have Hwayoung invited onto a show and asked the right questions so that the answers could be spun as victim-playing. That could be followed by having Kim Woori on a show and getting him to talk about Hwayoung and the staff and editing it to make Hwayoung look bad. That was the knockout blow because the Taxi interview really had no substance.
Record of lying and treating the members badly
On January 22, legal sources reported that the Seoul Central District Court had sentenced Kim Kwang Soo, the general producer of MBK Entertainment, and “Park” (Park Kyu Heon), the CEO of PocketDol Studio, which is a subsidiary of MBK, to fines of 10 million won each (about $9,100). , the general producer of MBK Entertainment, and “Park” (Park Kyu Heon), the CEO of PocketDol Studio, which is a subsidiary of MBK, to fines of 10 million won each (about $9,100).
The two have been indicted on charges of obstruction of business. Both have been charged with buying 10,000 IDs between March and April 2016 and making MBK Entertainment employees use these borrowed IDs to vote and raise the rankings of three trainees from the agency. This resulted in about 89,228 false votes being cast in the third and final rounds of voting in the first season of “Produce 101.”
The court stated, “The defendants used illegal methods to raise the rankings of their agency trainees on the audition program by acquiring false IDs en masse and forcing company employees and trainees to vote. This had an effect on the rankings. Even though the defendants had produced and planned audition-style programs themselves, they not only failed to cultivate a clear, transparent, and fair business culture, but even used false votes and other secretive methods to sow distrust.”
The way he overworked the members and made them fear for their places was probably one of the biggest causes of the tension that led to the scandal.
Again the staff interviewed by Dispatch tell a different story.
The following is the testimony of a staff member who has been close to T-ara and in his private life
'"Hyomin tried to start a conversation. She sincerely wanted to address the problem. Hwayoung saw that sincerity too. She said, ‘I got it,” she walked alone afterwards and practiced by herself. Her expression was different.”
According to this staff, the situation was thought to be resolved with that. Then Hwayoung’s unnie, Hyoyoung, sent out the text messages exactly 1 hour before Music Bank went live.
Monday, January 21, 2019
1) Preface
These are some of the questions that will be answered here.
Did T-ara bully Hwayoung?
Did Hwayoung say she was bullied?
What has Hwayoung said about T-ara?
What have T-ara said about Hwayoung?
What did Hwayoung say on Taxi?
Why do some T-ara fans hate Hwayoung?
Was Hwayoung really injured?
Was Hwayoung lazy?
Did Hwayoung ruin T-ara's career?
Did Hwayoung play the victim?
Updated 20 July 2019
2) Summary
[OP-ED] Is T-ara's member change a way for Kim Kwang Soo to punish T-ara? | allkpop.com
KKS continued to work the group as hard as before, and some sort of breakdown was inevitable. With the six original members having the strongest bond it was always likely that the first victims would be Hwayoung and Areum, and that is the way it turned out.
On 23 July 2012, Hwayoung sprained her ankle after a performance in Ulsan, and when they returned to Seoul she went to a hospital accompanied by a manager, and then to another with her father. According to reports from KKS and staff the manager reported that the first hospital said there was nothing wrong and she was fit to perform.
T-ara, meanwhile, have been similarly loyal to Hwayoung, apologizing for not making her feel more secure as part of the group, saying nothing about the problems caused by her behaviour and never blaming her for what happened to them. Both sides felt they had been wronged, but they forgave each other, so they have been able to move on from their problems. They were on opposing sides in their dispute, but they have always been on the same side in the scandal. On the other side are those who accuse T-ara of bullying and those who accuse Hwayoung of wrecking T-ara's reputation. Sadly, many fans did not understand that and felt the need to choose between T-ara and Hwayoung. By doing that they chose the side of lies and hate instead of the side of truth and reconciliation. Many of the fans who did not abandon T-ara became fanatical Hwayoung haters, and even after six years they still claim that Hwayoung tried to ruin T-ara by claiming she was bullied, but that is completely false.
T-ara's popularity plummeted; they became the most hated group in Korea, a petition calling for them to be disbanded attracted 200,000 names, and they suffered years of abuse. They had to concentrate on other countries, and did very well, particularly in China. Areum left T-ara in July 2013 after performing with them for one year. The hate that T-ara received was one of the things that affected her, another was the ridicule and abuse directed at her for some photographs taken after she painted her face for Halloween. There were also rumours of T-ara bullying her, which added to her troubles, but they never took hold in the same way as they did with Hwayoung, despite Areum's Instagram post, four months after she left, saying “The people I hate the most right now are the CEO, unnies, and the journalists!” Like Hwayoung, she was not happy at the time of her departure, but since then she has been as loyal to T-ara as Hwayoung has.
In February 2017 Hwayoung and Hyoyoung appeared on a TV show called Taxi and talked about life after Hwayoung left T-ara. There was really nothing in that interview that should anger any T-ara fan, but it was widely misinterpreted in the most spectacular fashion. Nearly everyone seemed to think that Hwayoung talked about being bullied and said she had a terrible time in T-ara, but there was no mention of bullying or any sort of mistreatment. A former staff member was enraged, or perhaps just took advantage of the outcry for personal vengeance, and he or she revealed the story of Hyoyoung's threat to the press. along with some other things that I will examine later. Even though it told us nothing about how T-ara treated Hwayoung, the new information about Hyoyoung was taken as proof that the twins were evil and had been bullying T-ara all along, so they were now the baddies, and it followed in a simple step of non-logic that T-ara, who had previously been evil bullies, must be the goodies, so they were seen to be vindicated and their reputation was restored. The question of why Hyoyoung was so angry seems to have been conveniently ignored, and there was a widespread backlash against the twins. Areum didn't want that story to be revealed, and to make matters worse the reporter who was given the Hyoyoung story used the old pictures that had brought Areum so much abuse to accompany it, which upset her further: “The pictures bring up such hurtful memories that you wouldn’t even begin to understand and it makes me feel like I’m dying. Why would you use me in such a way?”
Areum begs reporters to stop leaking her photos, says she feels like dying - Koreaboo
In January 2018, Areum said that Hyoyoung had apologized to her years before the story was revealed, and that she was on good terms with the twins:
It is strange that Hyoyoung apparently waited until after Areum left T-ara a year later to apologize. It may that there is a problem with the translation and Areum means after Hwayoung left the group. That makes more sense. I always thought that Hyoyoung would not have been allowed to stay in the company if she had not apologized, and Hwayoung would have made Hyoyoung apologize if she didn't do so very quickly. If the apology was given soon after the incident then the rest of the group and the staff would surely have known about it. That would cast further suspicion on the motives of the person who leaked the messages. If he or she knew that Hyoyoung and Areum had made their peace, and that Areum did not want the story to come out, what sort of character are we dealing with here? We need to know whether the translation is correct.
Further reading
3) Hwayoung Supports T-ara and T-ara Support Hwayoung
I feel sad when I read the news about Eunjung unnie has been replaced from her drama. Yes, during last month concert the member are having the conflict and differences opinion in the group but I don’t get it why netizen twisted the story into bullying issue and spread the false rumor. It did a big damage to me and T-ara, we are having really really hard time of this. I am really upset and hurt by this distorted false rumor.
Why It Makes Me Sorry That Hwayoung Is Sorry – Seoulbeats
Interview With Hwayoung: “I Hope They’ll Do Well” | Soompi
4) Taxi
http://www.kcon.tv/media/SJ0BmT0_Ol
T-ara Apologize – YouTube
Hwayoung: “Things can happen among girls. Members were immature then. I'm including myself.”
5) The Ankle Injury
120512 티아라(T-ARA) Lovey Dovey @ Dream Concert - YouTube
There's no way she would have wanted to miss out on a big event like that. At the concerts she performed just one song, Day by Day, sitting on a chair. It is said that the rehearsal should have taken about two hours, but because of the changes to the choreography and lighting forced by her not taking part in the dances it took eight hours. The Budokan concerts, on 25 and 26 July 2012 were the end of a Japanese tour which started in June, so virtually all the work had been done already. Long rehearsal sessions are normal when preparing for concerts, but by that time they all knew exactly what they were doing and would only need to adjust to the different stage where they would be performing, so if Hwayoung faked the injury because she was lazy, what was the work that she was trying to avoid? It's just not credible that she would do all the hard work to prepare and then decide to drop out just before the climax of the tour.
On 23 July 2012, after T-ara performed at the Ulsan Music Core Special, Hwayoung twisted her ankle, then they travelled back to Seoul, arriving at 3am. The members had about three hours of sleep before flying to Japan, and Hwayoung must have had less than the others that night because she went to the hospital seeking treatment. She was keen to obtain a cast or brace for her leg, but why did she want that? Most people seem to assume that it was because she wanted to appear more injured than she really was, but it's more likely that she just wanted something that would give the ankle enough support to enable her to perform at the Budokan, which would be two days after the injury occurred. She may have thought that might give her time to recover enough for the first of the concerts, but, looking at the available evidence, my guess is that she had a Grade 2 sprain:
"moderate to severe pain with severe difficulty on walking. Minor bruising and swelling may present immediately but can take several hours (up to 48) to develop. The ankle will feel very stiff but may also feel unstable resulting from a number of torn ligament fibres. Recovery time is between 4 and 8 weeks."
Sprained Ankle - Treatment, Rehabilitation & Exercises
If that is right, then the truth is that with the injury she had, there was never any possibility of her being able to perform on her feet so soon. After arriving in Japan she went to another hospital. She already had the brace, but must have felt that it was not sufficient, so she was looking for extra treatment. “Just like what the hospitals in Korea said, the hospital in Japan also said a leg cast was unnecessary. It would heal naturally, but it did need extra attention.”
A Chronological Timeline and Conclusion of the T-ara Scandal, Dispatch’s interview with T-ara’s staff | Diadem
I have seen many comments claiming that the doctors told her there was nothing wrong, but what they said is that the ankle did not need a cast, which is not normally used for sprains. The proper treatment for Hwayoung's injury is PRICE. “The best ankle sprain treatment to start with is PRICE: Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. This aims to reduce the bleeding, swelling and pain around the injured ligament which helps to speed up healing.”
Ankle Sprain Treatment, Recovery & Prevention - Foot Pain Explored
So the hospital would have advised that she needed to rest the ankle and definitely not dance on it. That immediately wipes out virtually all of her performance, as she had very little solo singing and a few raps that could be done by other members. Some have argued that if she was not fit to dance, she should have sat at the side and sung, but would anyone really notice the absence of Hwayoung's voice? Probably the only part when the others could not easily cover for her vocally was the rap segments of Day By Day, and she was on stage for that.
Another thing that often I see is people telling us how Eunjung and Jiyeon performed with injuries. When Eunjung had an ankle injury T-ara were promoting Lovey Dovey, and they were promoting Number 9 when Jiyeon was suffering from synovitis in her knee. They really shouldn't have been performing with those problems, but it's one thing to limp around on a bad leg for a few minutes and quite another to do it for an entire two-hour concert, and it's worth noting that Eunjung made her injury worse and was absent from the later performances.
Because Hwayoung was not going to be dancing at the concert, the choreography had to be adjusted, and the rehearsal is said to have gone on for eight hours. She should have gone to the rehearsal to contribute whatever she could and to help maintain morale, but the other members should have supported her when she had an injury that put her out of action, rather than making their own amateur diagnosis and ganging up on the girl who was missing the chance to perform at the big event. By the time she left may well have been very tired and distressed both physically and mentally, and if the other members were already accusing Hwayoung of exaggerating her injury on the flight, as seems likely, then it's not surprising that she wanted to stay away from them. The idea that she missed the rehearsal to get her nails done is ridiculous and false. That was just something that she thought of because she wasn't going to be doing much else, and there is some doubt about whether she had her nails done that day.
The following is a reply I wrote to someone who claimed that Hwayoung was not faking the injury at first, but the next day she was fine and just didn't want to do the concerts.
If Hwayoung was not faking the injury at first she was not faking it over the next few days either because sprained ankles take a long time to heal. Sprains are classified as Grade 1, Grade 2 or Grade 3.
Grade 1 – Stretched ligaments, some pain, some stiffness, some difficulty walking or running. Recovery time 2 to 4 weeks.
Grade 2 – Torn ligaments, moderate to severe pain with severe difficulty walking. Minor bruising and swelling which may take as long as two days to develop, so it may not look bad at first. The ankle will feel very stiff and may feel unstable. Recovery time 4 to 8 weeks.
Grade 3 – Severe tears or complete ruptures of ligaments. Severe pain immediately and the ankle may feel very unstable and weak. Swelling usually develops immediately and bruising often develops over the next two days. X-ray often required to ensure no bones are broken. Recovery time up to three months.
Sprained Ankle - Treatment, Rehabilitation & Exercises
Some claim that Hwayoung's x-ray showed there was nothing wrong, but the ligaments are not visible on an x-ray, so it cannot do that, and that fact that an x-ray was done suggests that the injury was quite bad. Sportsinjuryclinic tells us that an x-ray is often required with a Grade 3 sprain, but does not mention it for Grade 1 or Grade 2. For a Grade 1 the x-ray would be probably be considered unnecessary, for a Grade 2 it might be done just to make sure. Hwayoung's injury does not appear to have been as bad as a Grade 3, so the x-ray may have been requested by the patient or by the company, who were keen for her to perform at the concerts, but presumably not if she had broken bones. The mistake was thinking that because the bones were not broken there was nothing seriously wrong.
I think Hwayoung's injury was probably a Grade 2 sprain, not just because of the x-rays, but because it fits her behaviour; walking a bit, perhaps to try it out and see what she could do, then deciding that she needed assistance. If I am right it is likely she would be back to normal some time in late August or September, and there was never any possibility of her being fit for those concerts.
23 July – Injury
24 July – Rehearsal
25 July – First concert
26 July – Second concert
27 July – Music Bank
Elenora wrote some very good comments on Soompi about how a misunderstanding could happen. They are among best contributions to the Hwayoung debate that I have seen.
Elenora -> Sorbet Mei
I am deeply skeptical about the staff opinion regarding the ankle injury. There's a misconception that you either break your ankle or don't - the truth is you can really screw up the ligaments and tendons and it hurts like the devil and frequently doesn't repair because there's nothing that can be done. You can't see that damage on an x-ray, you need an MRI. Most of the time they won't give you a cast but walking is very difficult (if possible at all) and you really should spend your time at home with your foot elevated.
We've all seen that some management companies get their group members on stage even if they're ready to keel over and only seem contrite if someone DOES keel over. If Hwayoung thought she couldn't walk even though the doctor said no break, then that's something only she would know. From that point, the choreography had to be changed no matter what. If the combined staff and group members decided to hold that against Hwayoung and start the rumor that she wasn't actually that injured? Well, that's an excellent start to one heck of a grudge.
Do I know that Hwayoung really couldn't perform? Nope. But unless the staff were moonlighting as doctors, I'm pretty sure all they know is what the management group told them - and it was in the management group's interests to keep her onstage.
nmm -> Elenora
But they did go to doctors in 2 different countries who said the same thing tho. So it's not the staff's saying she didn't need the cast but the doctors did. But it's another case if you think the staff or the doctor was lying
Elenora -> nmm
I don't think anyone's lying. I think the doctors saw a ligament injury that has no real "fix" - it's important to elevate it and stay off it, but there's no direct benefit of a cast's structure. And I don't think the staff are lying (though I think they're extremely biased).
My best guess is that Korean companies tend to work their groups to exhaustion, and may have assumed that because there was no cast or injury visible on x-ray, she was good to go. But she knew very well that she wasn't good to go and that trying to use that ankle would injure it further, so a doctor told her a cast wouldn't do any harm and that's why she wore it. She probably also wore it in public to explain why she wasn't performing, given how closely kpop fans follow this stuff - I can imagine what would've come her way if she was seen limping through an airport and then not performing.
I think it's a toxic mix: a girl who genuinely got injured too badly to perform but not badly enough for it to be a break, a couple of doctors who all saw the same thing, another doctor who agreed that a visual shorthand for the injury would be a good idea, a management company who had motive for meeting appearance commitments, and then a really gross swirl of bitchy backbiting between the management, staff and group members regarding the girl who wasn't there. I don't think there's any one person responsible, though I'd look more closely at the management company than anyone else.
Elenora -> nmm
I don't think anyone was lying. I think the same diagnosis can get different opinions, based on the people in the room and the context provided. For example, when I had leg surgery my doctor told me that I could go back to work in two weeks. But then I explained that my job is one with lots of international travel and standing, and she instantly changed her recommendation and told me I'd be out for 6 weeks. The thing that changed is that she'd thought I'd drive to a suburban office and sit at a desk 8 hours a day with my foot on a stool, when in fact even on non-travel days I'm walking about 3 miles through cities. Totally different recommendation, same injury.
If Hwayoung went to a doctor with the management company, they may have presented a much less realistic story than reality - management is known to do that. In contrast, when she went with her father it's possible that she described her busiest possible day on the job (which, given the Japan travel, sounds likely). That would easily result in different doctors giving different recommendations.
Daisy Fung -> Elenora
First doctor says she doesn't need a cast. Second doctor says she needed one. Third doctor says the same thing as the first. The second doctor visit was accompanied by her father while the first and last one wasn't.
Elenora -> Daisy Fung
Ankle injuries are tricky. Casts are a visible signal that the person is hurt, but if the ankle is injured in a way where there's really nothing to be done and no benefit to the cast's structure, then a doctor will typically skip it. That doesn't mean the ankle is undamaged. I don't think you're taking into account the demands the management company may have had, or the concerns her father may have had. Many bosses ask their people to "play hurt", as in "continue to work through an injury". A cast would send a visual message that the person is not available for activities that would aggravate the injury.
Elenora -> Daisy Fung
Doctors have differing opinions, and a doctor's visit with a management company who are very vested in getting her back onstage might come away with different recommendations than one with her father who was mostly focused on her wellbeing.