K-pop girl group Red Velvet cancelled an online fan meeting after member Irene was accused by a stylist of emotional and verbal abuse. Korean media outlet Herald Pop reported that Red Velvet will not be appearing at the 2020 Korean Culture Festival, a day after the 29-year-old apologised on Instagram for hurting the stylist with her ‘foolish attitude’.
It all started when Kang Kook-hwa (who has worked on pictorials with various Korean celebrities) took to Instagram in October to talk about an unnamed female celebrity who she described as ‘disqualified from being human.’
Kang continued, saying that she had to endure ‘hysterical fits’ and found herself in a powerless position as the celebrity ‘spewed insults’ in her face during a recent work event.
“I experienced hell for 20 minutes in an unfamiliar room. This person didn’t greet me at all and sat right down and began spewing insults at my face with her cellphone pointed at me.
“This person was so emotional that you couldn’t know if she was talking to everyone in the room or just me. But either way, the target today was me,” Kang wrote, according to translations from Allkpop.
Kang compared the unnamed star to former Korean Air vice president Heather Cho who infamously was in a ‘nut rage’ incident after she stopped a plane from taking off because she was upset with the way a flight attendant had served her nuts in first class. The stylist also claimed that she had heard many stories of the celebrity’s tendency to mistreat her staff members and that she possessed a recording of the person verbally abusing her.
Kang included the hashtags #psycho and #monster in the now-deleted post which are also titles of Red Velvet’s songs, which led to fans speculating if the unnamed celebrity was Irene. Irene apologised on Instagram, admitting to being the anonymous celebrity that Kang was referring to.
“I am regretting and reflecting on the fact that I have hurt many people who have worked with me up to this point, due to my immature behaviour.
“The recent events helped me look back on my past, and I am feeling ashamed of my lacking behaviour, actions, and words,” wrote Irene, based on translations by Koreaboo.
Red Velvet’s label SM Entertainment also issued a statement saying that Irene has met with the stylist to apologise to her in person.
“Irene met the stylist in person this afternoon and sincerely apologised for the pain she caused the stylist due to her careless attitude and emotional outbursts and actions.
“We are very sorry for concerning many people with her immature image,” the company said.