Kep1er hold their first VLive, with Huening Bahiyyih giving rise to a heated debate

Kep1er's VLive gave them a chance to interact with fans directly for the first time (Image via Twitter/official_kep1er)

Kep1er member Heuning Bahiyyih has once again become a talking point, post the rookie girl group’s very first VLive.

The top nine winners of MNet’s idol audition show Girls Planet 999 formed a K-Pop band called Kep1er. While the name of the group itself received mixed reactions, one of its members Huening Bahiyyih has been on the receiving end of a lot of backlash, mostly due to her high profile connections.

The rookie idol is related to not one but two K-Pop icons- TXT’s Huening Kai, and former VIVA member Lea. Several viewers of Girl Planet 999 believed that the only reason Bahiyyih ended up in the second position was due to her family’s clout, and not because of her talent.

The 17-year-old idol’s latest appearance has attracted controversy yet again.

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Kep1er members hold their first VLive

On November 4, all the members of Kep1er appeared for a VLive chat with their fans.

The VLive, however, triggered a heated discussion about Bahiyyih’s behavior and her apparent aloofness. One viewer created a post on an online forum titled, "Oh, Huening Bahiyyih really hurts my heart."

During the VLive, all nine members of Kep1er were given two tablets to share, so that they could read the comment section and interact with the fans. While the other eight gathered around to read the comments, Huening Bahiyyih could initially be seen sitting a little away from the rest.

A certain section of Kep1er and Bahiyyih fans appeared to believe that the other members were intentionally leaving her out, with one commenting,

"Oh man why are they doing that to a young kid?"

Another faction, however, put the blame on Heuning Bahiyyih for her lack of involvement. Criticizing her attitude, they deemed her too passive and uninterested. According to these Kep1er fans, other members also had difficulty in sharing two tablets between the nine of them, but they tried. Bahiyyih, on the other hand, appeared to be disinterested. One of the comments from this group read,

"You shouldn't make it look like Huening Bahiyyih is being left out by the other members. Her attitude should be criticized, shouldn't it? Even if the reaction from Mnet wasn't good she shouldn't be like that. She was being very passive throughout the whole broadcast and during the time the members were reading the comments, even Yujin, who is the oldest and has the most experience, even proactively joined and put the effort to read the comments but she's just sitting there. Don't say she's being bullied then the rest of the members will get malicious comments. Stop framing Huening to be a victim of bullying. I think the issue is that Huening is just staying passively in the corner like that."

Huening Bahiyyih also found supporters who rightly pointed out that the idol’s apprehension and hesitation was not unwarranted, given the torrent of hate the young girl has been receiving.

"I think the girls are at the point in time when they're still awkward with one another because they aren't used to it yet. I don't think Bahiyyih would become suddenly confident just because her fans are saying she's a victim of bullying. And also the members read a lot of comments saying how Bahiyyih is so pretty and they were taking care of her throughout the broadcast."

"She was sitting straight up and not paying attention to the comments. Even when Yujin called her over, she briefly looked and went back to sitting straight up."

Several fans who tuned in were also appreciative of the other members’ efforts to make Bahiyyih feel involved, especially Yujin. The former CLC and current Kep1er member could be seen constantly reassuring Heuning Bahiyyih, and made it a point to share any positive comments with her.

Readers can watch the VLive in its entirety here:

MNet’s girl groups have historically been very successful. With Kep1er’s debut promised “very soon”, one can expect them to follow the same trajectory.