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The South Korean entertainment industry has landed itself in hot soup countless times due to scandals involving controversial K-pop shows. There have been times when the producers have rigged the votes to choose the winners, using the audience as a front for their fraudulent actions.
The most recent case of a controversial K-pop show would be the ongoing voting for the MAMA Awards. MAMA has released a statement stating that unfair means are being used by certain groups to bot the results and a discord server full of fans using bots to vote for their groups has been revealed.
The groups included in this list were IVE, DREAMCATCHER, LOONA, Kep1er, and Brave Girls who suddenly saw an erratic increase in their votes.
This has not been the only case of rigging of votes this year. For the 2022 Genie Music Award, BLACKPINK fans also used unfair methods to vote for the group, and when found out, their fraudulent votes were deleted.
Finding MOMOLAND and 3 other controversial K-pop shows that were called out for their rigging of votes
1) The Produce series
The Produce series is one of the most controversial K-pop shows to come out of the industry, making netizens hate the concept of reality shows.
The final line-up of Produce X 101 was highly criticized when a police investigation revealed that the results were manipulated and the two to three contestants who should’ve made up the group X1 were eliminated by the producers of the show. There were audio recordings as proof that substantiated the claim.
This caused the police to look into the results of the previous seasons of Produce 101 as well as Produce 48. It was later revealed that all the members of the groups formed by these reality shows were decided by Ahn Joon-young PD and Kim Yong-bum CP, who were both jailed for their involvement.
2) Finding MOMOLAND
Daisy, a former member of the group MOMOLAND, revealed to broadcasting channel KBS that the reality show, Finding MOMOLAND, was rigged in favor of her debut.
The reality show aired in 2016 to find fresh talent to debut in a new girl group called MOMOLAND. Out of the 10 participants, seven were to be selected based on the judges’ votes, online viewers’ votes, and the votes of the live audience members.
Daisy was eliminated from the show, but prior to the elimination, MLD Entertainment let her know that she would be joining the group regardless of the results. They also told her that she would be introduced during the release of the second album by the group.
Moreover, the members who were selected were made to pay a hefty fee to cover the costs of the controversial K-pop show. MLD Entertainment agreed to these claims and mentioned that this was part of the contract the girls had agreed to sign.
3) Queendom 2
Queendom 2 was one of the most controversial K-pop shows of 2022, another one from Mnet after the Produce series. The show was suspected of rigging votes in favor of WJSN, who emerged as the winners of the show.
The rankings shown by the show vastly differ from the Spotify streaming numbers achieved by each group. K-netizens believe that if the total digital performance rankings were to be considered, LOONA would come first, followed closely by VIVIZ, and WJSN would be a distant third.
Mnet released a convoluted statement rubbishing the rumors and no further investigation was done on the matter. However, with Mnet’s history of rigging votes, fans are still suspicious of the final results of the show.
4) Music Bank
KBS’ Music Bank came into the spotlight as a controversial K-pop show over rigged votes when on one of the broadcasts LE SSERAFIM won over Lim Young-woong, surprising netizens.
Music Bank is a weekly music show based on certain criteria, where a newly released song wins over the others. It is also a space for artists to promote their music to a wider audience.
This particular broadcast shocked fans because the K-pop soloist scored zero broadcast points despite his song being used by KBS in various playlists as revealed by Dispatch, which led to Lim Young-woong’s loss.
Recently, Kakao Entertainment has also come under fire for using their influence and popularity to push the groups under their subsidiaries.
Netizens were taken aback by MONSTA X’s nomination for the Melon Music Awards over active and better performers such as TXT. Melon is a subsidiary under Kakao Entertainment, hence netizens are claiming foul play.
