Why is #KSOULOUT trending? Fantasy Boys' debut member criticized for multiple past controversies
Fantasy Boys, MBC's recent reality survival show, which aimed to create a twelve-member boy group, revealed its final lineup on June 8, 2023. While fans were more or less satisfied with the members who'll be debuting, they were disappointed to find one contestant, KSOUL, making it to the debut lineup. Right from the trainee's participation in the reality survival show, fans expressed their dislike for him due to several reasons.
The idol was called out for several controversies he was involved in, some included faking his age, stating racist and fatphobic comments, etc. Following his debut in Fantasy Boys, fans were frustrated and angered at the same, expressing that his spot could have gone to another better-deserved contestant. Naturally, people have been boycotting the idol and consecutively trending #KSOULOUT on Twitter, expressing their displeasure with his involvement in the group.
All controversies revolving around Fantasy Boys' KSOUL
Fantasy Boys, aka My Teenage Boy, is the male version of the previously aired reality survival show, My Teenage Girl, which first aired on March 30, 2023, and finally ended on June 8. The show initially kicked off with 55 contestants coming from several parts of the world, including the U.S., China, South Korea, and Thailand, among others.
Out of the many contestants, KSOUL continued to stand out among the crowd for wrong reasons. He, who was previously part of a Chinese boy group called Mu Ji Shao Nian, is housed under the agency PocketDol Studio. The idol has also previously participated in Chinese survival shows like Super Idol and We Are Young. However, his short time of two months in Fantasy Boys garnered much negative attention towards him.
While netizens continue to point out several aspects of his behavior and actions to his fellow contestants, there were a few major issues that caused quite a stir on the internet.
Fat-shaming his fellow Fantasy Boys contestants
The most recent controversy about KSOUL was when he fat-shamed two of his fellow contestants - Kim Woo-seok and Hikari. On June 1, 2023, MBC released previously unrevealed backstage footage of a few of the contestants spending some together, which included KSOUL, Hikari, Kim Woo-seok, and Yuma.
During their conversation, Woo-seok, while showing Hikari's photocard to the camera, stated that KSOUL called the trainee by a specific nickname.
"During filming yesterday, K-Soul touched my chin and called me 'Wooseok with the fat chin.'"
In reply to this, KSOUL simply replied:
"You're already handsome. To look more handsome you should lose some chin fat."
While fans were already angered by the fatphobic comment he directed at Kim Wooseok, it was further fueled when the contestants asked for him to comment on Hikari. The idol replied:
"Pig baby."
Fans were quite disappointed after the incident, as they could see that the two contestants other than KSOUL were saddened and upset by his remarks.
Accused of faking his age
The first heated controversy that landed on Fantasy Boys' KSOUL is him faking his age. While in his Fantasy Boys profile it was stated that he was born in 2000, his previous profiles in the earlier survival shows he participated in showed two different ages. One stated that he was born in 1998, while the other said he was born in 1997.
Given that there has been no statement from the idol regarding his age confirmation, people are still confused about his actual age. Additionally, they were also angered at him for hiding his real age since it felt quite unnecessary.
Wearing box braids for a photoshoot
During one of his pre-debut moments before his time on Fantasy Boys, KSOUL's one of the photoshoots that surfaced on the internet caused a stir. In the photoshoot, the idol was dressed in a black tank top layered with a yellow shirt. However, fans were angered to find him with box braids, a traditional hairstyle limited to the Black community. Since this clearly comes off as a racist stance, the idol was heavily criticized for the same.
Narcissistic comments and expressing jealousy towards fellow contestants
There were several moments during his time on the show when fans found his behavior disrespectful and frustrating. One such event was when the contestants were all gathered up in the arena, and Sung Min, one of the contestants, received a compliment from a fellow trainee on his good looks.
Hearing this, KSOUL glanced over at Sung Min and continued to pull out a mirror from his pocket. He then continued to shower himself with compliments on his looks. Both the fellow trainees he was seated with and the audience who watched the episode were baffled by the event and found his action to be quite narcissistic.
However, these weren't all. There have been several other instances where he's been disrespectful to the judges by not taking feedback properly and also for continuously looking down on other Fantasy Boys contestants who were lower in rank than him. Fans also noticed that the contestants were wary of KSOUL as they continued to maintain their distance from him.
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Priya Majumdar