Lee Chae-young’s Bullying Rumor
Mnet’s newest program again caused controversy even before it was officially aired. Mnet plans to broadcast the Idol School program in the near future, a survival program to debut idols with school friends. But shortly after Mnet revealed the faces of the 41 female trainees who joined Idol School, there was a netizen posting that referred to one of the participants, Lee Chae-young, as a bully in the past.
Responding to these rumors, representatives of the program said, “We are checking the truth of the rumors. The future of one person is very dependent on this. We must be careful. We will immediately give an official statement.”
Cases of bullying in schools have become a very sensitive issue in South Korea. Previously, there were many survival program participants who stumbled over the problem and finally they had to be expelled or resigned from their survival programs.
Mnet’s Statement Regarding Lee Chae-young’s Bullying Rumors
Mnet’s Idol School has released a statement in response to rumors circulating about one of the show’s contestants, Lee Chae-young. She has been surrounded in controversy after rumors spread that she had bullied fellow students at school. The rumors stated that she had been disciplined at school for violence and was forced to transfer schools because of her bullying. In response, others posted to deny the rumors by stating that the school name which one accuser had cited was not the school Lee Chae Young attended, and also does not exist.
Mnet’s Idol School has now issued the following statement in regards to the rumors:
“We have verified with a source at the contestant’s elementary school that it is not true that she was forced to transfer because she was bullying her classmates. She was living in a rural area, and she transferred when she moved residences. The middle school that she attended also does not have any records of her suspension from school.
“We are not considering her withdrawal based on these false matters, and we would be grateful if you refrained from spreading groundless rumors such as claims that have not been confirmed.”
Netizen’s Reactions
Idol School is still in the stage of introducing female trainees who are ready to compete. But one trainee, named Lee Chae-young, was in the spotlight because of having been involved in a bullying case in elementary school. She even reportedly was transferred to another school because of the case and was penalized.
Lee Chae-young denied that she had ever been involved in an assault case by submitting some evidence. Meanwhile, Mnet said that they would investigate before making a decision. Considering that many netizens demanded that Lee Chae-young be expelled from “the show, finally Mnet released a statement related to these rumors.
“We have verified with a source at the contestant’s elementary school that it is not true that she was forced to transfer because she was bullying her classmates. She was living in a rural area, and she transfered when she moved residences. The middle school that she attended also does not have any records of her suspension from school.
“We are not considering her withdrawal based on these false matters, and we would be grateful if you refrained from spreading groundless rumors such as claims that have not been confirmed.”
Mnet’s decision was of course responded to negatively by netizens, given cases like this almost always exist in all survival programs. Coupled with the fact that the recapitulation of Lee Chae-young’s bullying case was of course deleted by the school.
“Of course there is no record considering the forced transfer was always deleted by the school two years after graduation,” commented the netters. “Mnet is an idiot. Such records will definitely be deleted after a few years,” added another netizen. “TV programs may indeed have been made for permission to rehabilitate them,” concluded another.
Lee Chae-young’s Debuting with fromis_9
On January 24, 2018, Lee Chae-young made her official debut with fromis_9 under Stone Music Entertainment. Fromis_9, an initialism for ‘From Idol School’, consists of 9 members: Saerom, Hayoung, Gyuri, Jiwon, Jisun, Seoyeon, Chaeyoung, Nagyung, and Jiheon. They were created through the survival program Idol School. Although the band is formed through a reality show (similar to I.O.I or IZ*ONE), fromis_9 will be a permanent group, not a temporary group. Starting September 21, 2018, it was announced that the band will be managed by the new label, Off the Record.
Lee Chae-young Graduation at Hanlim Arts School
Chaeyoung graduated from Hanlim Arts School with the support of all the fromis_9 members. She shared, “When I entered school three years ago, my goal was to debut. I am so happy to have debuted as fromis_9 and to attend graduation with my members.” She added, “Congratulations to the many people graduating today, and I will work to impress with fromis_9 again this year.”
