US fans celebrate K-pop group Seventeen amid company tussle

South Korean boy band Seventeen had fans chanting their names in Oakland, California last week as part of their Right Here world tour to promote the group’s 2024 album 17 Is Right Here.

“I've been a Seventeen fan about six or seven years," said Ruby Webb, a 21-year-old fan from Portland, Oregon.

“I love them so much. S.Coups, Mingyu, Dino; they’re my babies,” she added.

While there was excitement, the fans known as Carats, spoke about the recent controversy with the South Korean company HYBE, that oversees several K-Pop artists, including popular groups BTS, NewJeans and Seventeen.

An internal document that circulated among company executives, including HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, containing disparaging comments about several of its K-pop groups was disclosed during a National Assembly audit on October 24 by the South Korean National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee.

The report was revealed by Korean pop culture critic Kang Myung Seok.

In the document, some K-pop groups, including Seventeen, were criticised for being "unattractive" and having "too much plastic surgery."

This followed a series of other controversies in the industry.

K-pop star Hanni, a member of the group NewJeans, made an appeal in October for better treatment in the K-pop industry during a parliamentary hearing.

K-pop idols are often held to high standards for their behaviour and must maintain a clean public image, including pressure from fans not to have partners.

The company's criticism of Seventeen immediately sparked backlash from Carats.

“I’m mostly disappointed,” said Laura Munoz, 29, who travelled from Kansas to attend the concert.

“You support a group, and their own company is not keeping them in mind and wanting to protect them, and being on their side,” she added.

For Webb, however, it's important to focus more on the music than the controversy.

"I'm just trying to have my focus and on the members, not a big huge conglomerate," she said.

Eden Johnson, 22, who attended the concert with Webb dressed as a carrot, felt optimistic at her first Seventeen concert.

"I just enjoy it, being at the concert that they get to be happy in," she added.

Seventeen member, Seungkwan, posted a response to the document on Instagram in October, a few days after it was released.

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