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Entertainment label SM Entertainment is under fire after fans of K-Pop band aespa accused the agency of mistreating aespa’s leader Karina.
Ever since their debut in November 2020, aespa has firmly established itself as one of the most exciting groups in South Korea, earning global acclaim. But with fame comes controversies, and this time it involves Karina and SM Entertainment.
Karina is the leader and main dancer of aespa
At the the time of aespa’s debut, several fans of the group had claimed that Karina was the company “baby” and was unfairly favored over the other members- Giselle, NingNing and Winter. Now, it appears public perception has drastically changed.
On December 8, several aespa fans (aka MYs) claimed that several images of the group’s leader were deleted from aespa’s official Instagram account, with no actual reason provided. This led several to accuse SM Entertainment of treating Karina poorly.
In light of this, several other factors were pointed out. Many fans noticed that ever since the group’s debut, Karina has had fewer individual photos released on social media, when compared to the others. While aespa’s main dancer has only 51 pictures to her name, the rest have more than 55.
Several MYs also noted that this was not the first time Karina has not been given equal attention.
Winter, Giselle, and Ningning were featured on aespa's Weibo account in late June and early July. Unfortunately, Karina's images have been neglected by the company. It was only after fans trended over hashtags and submitted emails to the label that SM Entertainment finally uploaded Karina's photos.
During the ace dancer’s birthday, there were no special videos released, as was done in case of the other members. Fans of the aespa leader had to settle for only a livestream, and a photo shared by SM Entertainment on the K-Pop group’s Twitter, and Instagram stories.
Even on Giselle’s birthday, while SM Entertainment uploaded polaroid images of the member, Karina was cropped out. The photos featured only Giselle, Ningning and Winter, accompanied by a bit of Karina's arm. The image had caused significant outrage amongst aespa fans, especially since Karina is the leader of the quartet.
Some fans also pointed out how Karina was given the fewest number of lines in aespa’s breakthrough mini-album, Savage.
SM Entertainment has also been repeatedly criticized for dressing Karina in outfits that do not allow a lot of movement, which is surprising since she is aespa’s lead dancer.
Karina had her first solo activity back in November, where the star made a vlog series titled Travel Diary: Soul: Seoul, promoting Seoul. Despite it being her first solo tour, SM Entertainment barely advertised it. Many people were surprised to learn that Karina had her own schedule to begin with.
Given the aforementioned instances, several netizens have expressed their disappointment with SM Entertainment’s treatment of the star. They also highlighted how it was a disastrous move for the company itself, since Karina is supposed to be the face and leader of aespa. SM Entertainment risks permanently upsetting the idol’s significant fan base if they don't push her into the spotlight.
Meanwhile, aespa has been nominated for three awards at the upcoming Mnet Asian Music Awards 2021.
