Indonesian Fans Under Fire for Supporting K-Pop Star Charged Over Prostitution Ring

On March 17, over 200 people gathered at Livespace, a music venue in Jakarta’s central business district, to show support for Seungri, a former member of South Korea’s most successful boy band in history called BIGBANG. Seungri is currently involved in a sex scandal that’s taking the K-pop scene by storm.

The diehard fans were there to mourn the cancellation of his concert, which was supposed to take place that day, due to his involvement in the drug and prostitution scandal. In the wake of the scandal, Seungri has taken to Instagram to announce he’s retiring from the entertainment industry and leaving his label YG entertainment. To those fans, their meetup was a way of showing their loyalty to an idol who's going through a tough time.

But not everyone feels the same way. When pictures of the meetup surfaced on social media, what followed was a series of backlash from K-pop fans around the world. They simply couldn’t understand, how could fans support Seungri when he's in facing charges over his involvement in a prostitution ring?

The backlash was so massive that the Indonesian fans released an official apology letter. In the letter, they wrote that the meet-up on was just their way of supporting Seungri throughout the investigation process, with no intention of minimizing what his victims went through.

Since the rapid rise of the Korean Wave, or what is known as "hallyu" in South Korea, Indonesia has been home to the largest K-Pop market in Southeast Asia. It’s no wonder that the Indonesian Big Bang fanbase is one of the biggest in the world. And in many places including Indonesia, the K-Pop fandom is notorious for its blind support of idols.

This fanaticism can be quite destructive. Seungri isn't the first male K-pop star with sexual misconduct scandals. But diehard fans over the years continued to defend those idols, and many even believe that the idols never did anything wrong. It's no wonder that the #MeToo movement in South Korea didn't take off the way it did in other countries.

The clash between militant Seungri supporters and other K-pop enthusiasts is a reminder that we still don't quite have the answer for the question, can we separate the art from the artist? Should we? For years now we have been asking the same questions about Kanye West, Woody Allen, Michael Jackson, and now, increasingly, K-pop celebrities. And there is no one, universal answer.

I talked to some former and current Seungri fans about this. One woman named Berlian told me she immediately deleted all of BIGBANG music from her phone once she heard about the scandal.

“We shouldn’t separate artists and their work," she told VICE. "It doesn’t apply to Seungri’s case only. For instance, I personally will never watch Woody Allen movies. Seungri’s case is unique for me. It involves corruption, so it's way bigger than it looks on the outside. I’m pretty upset and embarrassed by international fans, especially Indonesians, who are still showing support for Seungri.”

Another K-pop enthusiast, Putri Ruthia, agreed. "Shame on them who still idolize Seungri," she said. "I know he isn’t the only one who is involved in this scandal, but that doesn’t make him less of a criminal. He doesn’t deserve support especially from women. They can enjoy his music all they want, but what’s the point of supporting his work after this?”

But Oktafiana, who is a Seungri fan, said an artist’s action should not impact our enjoyment of their work.

"As long as their work doesn’t encourage us to be like them, then it’s fine to enjoy and support the work they’ve made,” she told VICE. “But fans view public figures as a role model, so it’s be better if they have good behaviors along with great art.”

As one Indonesian K-pop influencer, who goes by the pseudonym Haemotion, once said, K-pop fans need to start thinking of not only their idols, but also the women who became their victims. And if the Seungri meet up earlier this week was any indication, it seems that the Indonesian K-pop fandom has a lot of work to do.

This article originally appeared on VICE Indonesia.