BIGBANG T.O.P’s Alleged Ex Mentions IU in Viral Claim:Does IU Really Charge $500K a Night?
T.O.P’s alleged ex-girlfriend claims IU charges $500K to spend time with people in a viral podcast. Fans demand legal action over the defamatory allegation.
South Korea's famous singer and actress IU, whose real name is Lee Ji Eun, is in the news these days due to a baseless and controversial podcast episode. In this show, IU was accused of paying $500,000 to spend time with someone. After this controversy, IU's fans are angry and they are demanding legal action.
How did the allegations against IU start?
In a podcast episode, which was released by Above The Influence, a guest claimed that some big female celebrities in the K-pop industry are secretly involved in transactional relationships with rich people. The woman on the show, who calls herself an influencer named Kira, claimed that she was once the girlfriend of former BIGBANG member T.O.P.
Without any proof, Kira said that rich men, such as a Chinese businessman, can contact a big entertainment company and demand to spend one night with top K-Pop stars. In the same conversation, she took IU's name and said that spending a night with IU can cost 500,000 US dollars.
Although Kira did not directly accuse IU, taking her name as an example upset the fans and internet users. IU's image has been clean, respectful and philanthropic for years. Dragging her name into such thoughtless and irresponsible discussion is completely unacceptable to the fans.
Trends like #ProtectIU, #SueForDefamation have started on social media. IU's fans, called Uaenas, are constantly demanding EDAM Entertainment, IU's agency, to take strict legal action on this entire matter.
Issues like 'sponsorship' have been raised in K-Pop before
Sponsorship is a term used in the K-pop industry to describe suspicious deals between wealthy individuals and celebrities. Although there have been investigations and arrests in several cases, naming an artist with a clean image like IU without proof has become a serious issue.
At present, no official statement has been issued by EDAM Entertainment. But fans are hoping that after such a huge controversy and outrage, some response will definitely come soon.
