Lee Seung Gi’s Korean Fan Club Publicly Protests His Relationship with Lee Da In
Aish, this is no good either way. If he breaks up with her it just seems like public pressure and if he keeps dating her I can’t imagine the escalation from his fan club. Lee Seung Gi confirmed earlier in the week that he was dating actress Lee Da In and his domestic fan club has since gone crazy. The boards are filled with disappointed and angry opinions and now it’s even escalated to public protests. Fans rented a truck to drive around with a giant LED scrolling billboard that read: “It’s okay if you didn’t know. Letting you know now. They’ve made too many victims. Are you going to abandon the 17-year-old tower you’ve been building? You need to make a quick decision. We’ve protected you for 17 years. It’s now time for Lee Seung Gi to protect Airen.” Dang, being the Nation’s Son-in-law I guess comes with his fans actually dictating who he can or cannot date/marry. If I don’t like the spouse of my fave I will simply stop following said fave and move on. This seems so wild to me.
Why? Just why?
Celebrity culture being fuelled by personality to an unhealthy degree, leading fans to believe even a celeb’s personal life is something they should have rights to control.
It’s one thing to get mad at dramas for this and that reason, they are publicly consumed media. But an individual’s private relationship? This is really too much.
A lot of die-hard fans and fanclubs financially invest into making their idols as popular as they are (buying up CDs, concert tickets, sending foodtrucks etc.)
They see themselves as financial backers or investors of the celebrity. So yes, LSG is an individual, but in the eyes of his fan club, also a commodity whom they’ve invested in for nearly two decades.
Sucks for him right now, but that’s the power game between celebs/fan clubs/ public opinion.
Was he ever an “idol”, though? I always had the impression LSG was a solo artist and those guys don’t generally have the same level of crazy overinvested fans who do this kind of stuff.
Plus he’s freaking 34 years old! If his fans have been with him since the beginning, that means they’re adults too….adults in severe need of a reality check and to grow up.
Also I don’t know why fans think buying goods = ownership of a celeb? I buy an album because I like the music in it and want to listen to it, that’s the thing I get in return for my money, not the right to control the artist’s life.
Same with dramas, I watch them because I want to be entertained, my watching it doesn’t = the right to tell the real-life actors what to do!
@RoyalWe
Of course buying albums does not equal to ownership of the individual. The fanclub doesn’t own him in the sense that they have no control over who LSG wants to date/marry. They’re stating that they disapprove of his relationship and will (most likely) stop supporting him if he continues his relationship with LDI.
The fact of the matter is, LSG’s free to date whoever he wants if he doesn’t mind losing a large part of his fanbase. When push comes to shove though, lots of celebrities would pick fans > romatic relationship. Let’s see what he decides, I’m curious to see how this pans out.
Yeah, it’s weird. I recently came to know that fans buy multiple CDs to support their idols and stream all day long just to make the “data” look good. I had no idea that the entertainment (music in particular) industry has degenerated to this state.
@Emmy – that’s still a weird mentality, are they fans of him for his work and who are they to make his gf’s family – not even she herself – a factor in whether to support him if it truly is just about work and entertainment?
They are free to stop buying his CDs or watching his dramas, but then do that quietly, why make the big announcement unless it’s with the intent of creating some self-righteous drama?
@kitai – I believe it’s very common in kpop, no surprise the fans who do this are hardcore about it. But multiple CD buying is actually encouraged by the way kpop albums are marketed and packaged. Fans streaming at least costs little and doesn’t have to involve spending money…still leads to unhealthy obsessions though.
@ Royal We
I think for many fans its hard to clearly delineate LSG the artist with LSG the individual. Yes, they are fans of his music/acting/hosting, but they are also fans of the entire squeaky clean image/package that LSG (or his agency) has created throughout his career.
It’s why people stop following and supporting certain actors/singers when they get involved in scandals/crime/dating. Even if it may objectively seem trivial (e.g. LSG’s just dating a random girl with shady parents), if the incident is enough to offend his die-hard fan club, he’ll lose support.
The fan club is making a big hoo-hah, because they have power, and are wielding it to try and influence LSG’S decisions on this matter. They’ve said their piece, now the ball’s in his court
@Royal We
I don’t get the mentality though. It’s like the fans are supporting the celebrities on their own. Then are they really “celebrities”? Isn’t it meaningless if you release a song that only your fans “like” and listen to? It’s as if they are in a bubble of their own. It’s a waste of time, money and resources and just plain stupid imo.
Welp. This is the downside of being a beloved celeb. You live by public opinion, you die by public opinion.
@Ophelia – sadly, I agree. No one would care about this if he wasn’t so popular. But this protest truck business appears unique to East Asian ent, it’s not a good feature.
This is too much!!! Celebrities are humans too. I feel bad for him.
Well his gf lives in multi million house build by scam. She is ok with her parents scamming. So he knows how east asian society works. Face it
Considering how there was not a single scandal or negative news of Seunggi and his family during the whole 17years, and the way the personality and the image being portrayed of him and his family all this time, i think his fans and korean netizens probably treat him like their own golden son. I dont think his fans will bother if the lady is poor, not popular, not successful or what, but Dain’s family issue is a very big condemnable issue in Korea. If seunggi is our son, how is our reaction?
But seeing how the two even visited Seunggi’s grandma, its either seunggi’s family does not know/already forget about the issue or they just dont care or there is something that everyone else including korean netizen is not aware of.
I am a fan of him, but just the kind of fan who looks forward to his work, who likes his work only when its good, so maybe thats why i dont really care about his relationship. But i understand the anxiety of his fans and korean netizen generally. Not saying i agree with their actions, but i understand their feeling.
Whatever the outcomes, there is always pros and cons, risk to any decision we make in life. There are greater issue that needs our concern than the celebrity life. Thats why we need to be moderate in everything we do, and only do things sincerely without expecting anything in return.
That is why k-celebs won’t admit dating till they are caught. I truly feel sorry for LSG. I remember him having a heart to heart talk with Jasper Liu in their travel show about dating & marriage. SG said something about how hard it is to find/meet someone he likes when working in the entertainment world. He said he wasn’t ready to get married until he’s in late 30s or hit 40. Some K-fans act like they own their oppa. This is taking it too far. No wonder the suicide rate is high in K-ent. Celebs are human too. Their private lives are none of our business.
I agree. It wasn’t his choice to have his relationship publicly outed like that, but even if it was – who are fans to tell him who he should and shouldn’t be marrying? Or even making statements about how they “don’t support” the relationship at all?
His former agency really played dirty when they leaked the news (explains a lot about why so many k-celebs renew contracts with unsuitable companies), good on LSG for not being cowed at any rate.
Good for NJH and LJS, they left YG but no bad news about them. Artist should choose their company carefully.
@yui
Probably because YG has many more popular artists under them.
When Seunggi was in the military, the profit of his prior agency Hook dropped 87%.
And did not choose company when he started. He did not go for any audition. He was a model student during his high school, a president and active with his band singing rock songs. Hook discover him and train him.
@Yui – I believe some articles were released around the time LJS left YG, saying none of his cfs were renewed.. …blatant attempt at smearing imo, even if it was on the artist himself and not his private life.
But after seeing Kim Jung Hyun’s case and now this, not to mention how Sidus HQ cloned Jun Ji Hyun’s phone when she was in their agency so they could keep track of who she contacted….k-ent agencies can be real bullies.
@Wanne – 87 percent?! Damn! Was he their only artist or something, that is insane. But if he wanted to leave, after 17 years they should have let him go instead of engaging in these tactics.
This is….really excessive imo. It’s his private life, he didn’t choose to reveal it, whatever his gf’s parents sins are, she’s not the scammer.
I think it’s funny when they justified that because they think LDI will ruin his career when now it’s his own fans who are ruining everything…
Poor LSG!
I’m not concrete or certain with my thinking and therefore my opinion may change in the future but I think the fan club would have been okay if he was to date almost anyone as long as their record, including family record is almost spotless.
I think his fans would even embraced her if she was to publicly denounce or criticize her parents in the past for their wrongdoings instead of supporting them by being silent about it publicly especially since she is also a public figure. IDK haha Maybe she will have a shot of winning them over if she does it now.
But it’s not like they chose to reveal their relationship, and expecting the girl to disown her family over this to win some strangers’ approval, is totally extreme.
Lmao are people actually serious. LSG is a grown-ass man ffs. Can you imagine being >30 years old but having a bunch of rabid strangers tell you who you’re allowed to date. I really don’t care who LSG dates or marries but I’m hoping they last just to piss people off.
I would even understand if their objection was that Lee Da In herself did something bad, like getting into a DUI or scandal about her own conduct. At least then there’s some grounds to say there’s a flaw in her character etc etc
But they’re telling him not to date her because of who she’s related to….ridiculous.
??Spot on, well said!
Yeah, it’s already proven that his previous relationship was sooo much better accepted because his ex is generally well-liked and has no scandal. His image is too pristine, so marrying into a problematic family will taint his image for sure. He’ll be branded as scammers’ son-in-law regardless LDI involvement in her parents wrongdoings.
Recently, Han Sohee denounced her scammer mother and paid for her debt. Few years ago SNSD Tiffany did the same to her father. Both are forgiven and praised by knetz for doing so. It will make a difference if Lee Dain follows suit. But will she?
I’m wondering what happens to the money gained by the stepfather from the stock manipulation after he went to jail.. Did the victim get paid for their loses? Did the stepfather or the family as a representative made any apology statement? Did the family really live off the money without any sense of guilt?
This is bullying, hands down. How dare they use their so-called love and support for LSG to force and threaten him. I don’t care what the girl’s family was involved in, these people should get a life and leave those two to live theirs.
The fans, especially those die hard fans… should’ve just keep quiet, respect LSG and decide to support or don’t support him quietly.
Fans are such a double edged swords.
Korean celebrities are slaves of their fans .
Agree it’s so creepy. It’s evident especially in romcom type shows with shipping culture and obsessions with bts stuff.
OMG!! Ikr? Tell me about it? It’s so creepy. The whole obsession w/ BTS clips really add more fuel to the fire. Like these people do know that not everything we see is what we get right? I just think that the whole shipping culture even in non romance shows are weirder. UGH, celebs should be able to date who they want w/o any fear nor backlash.
@Pam it took me a minute to figure out BTS =”behind the scenes” and not the group, oops
But I also find the whole obsession with behind clips and the “they have so much chemistry in the behind the scenes!” thing really bizarre. It’s ok to ship characters in a story or to enjoy scenes of actors interacting away from the camera and see how the movie/drama gets made …. but creating these entire wish-fulfilment scenarios with the private lives of real people is just creepy and wrong. I feel the same way about those people who write real-person shipping fics too, it’s just weird to me to treat real people like they are no different from a story. But then it looks like some shows and industries deliberately encourage this….
Why on earth they have the upper hand in one’s personal life of an actor? Some KNetz fans and fcs are really outbof their lines.
I always support him in whatever he is deciding about his personal life. He is a good man.
I hope LSG will always be strong together with Lee Da In.
I feel sorry for him, 17 years of hard work…and he didn’t do anything wrong. He fall in love, that’s all. It must be damn stressful.
This is more drama than a Korean drama. Hope he finds a good partner (whoever that is) and happiness. He is what we call a poor rich man.
This is truly over the top. They need to take control of this situation, now, if they are serious about their relationship. If not, they will both be manipulated for the rest of their lives by these sick people.
And yes, they are mentally ill.
Best policy is just to ignore them imo. Once you give the crazies an inch of room they will want to dictate everything, and that’s just not cool.
LOL are Korean fans for real?!
Generally Koreans have a weird fan culture.
The fans forget that he’s just a normal person whose job is an actor, and just like any other normal person, he’s entitled to normal life. As fans, they should just enjoy his drama, his music, etc and leave his personal life alone. The fans don’t own him.
Found this comment on Allkpop. May 30, 2021. By GoldenRui: “well they should just unstan now because anyone who would date someone who comes from a crime family is not a good person themselves
there’s no way around that.
if i found out someone i was dating was the child of people who did what her parents did…..I would break that off. I would imagine that marrying into their family would put me into criminal situations and i wouldn’t want to do that, i also would not want to be associated with their crimes. i wouldn’t want to be used to better their name and i wouldn’t want my dating them to be seen as condoning their actions.
the fact that he doesnt care means something is seriously wrong with him
you supported him for 17 years….and you shouldnt have
sometimes people turn out to be not who you thought, and then all you can do is cut your losses and move on”
Bird of a feathers flock together. He has met her family too. Tells a lot about the real him.
Please spill. What dirty secrets does he have? Give us some clues?
wow. pass me the popcorn lol
finally, the best comment hahaaa
I don’t blame you, this is such a popcorn worthy situation it doesn’t seem real.
All popcorn on me. Lol. The Doom fight is so damn entertaining too. Why didn’t jichangw go there?
This is when I am grateful that I have a life. Because this os fucking pathetic, the jobless, moronic, no life entitlement this screams. These fans should worry about their own mental health, because this screams needy, attention seeking disorder of some sort. I feel for Lee Da In much more, she hasn’t had a single controversy. She didn’t use connections to get leading roles either. She has been doing smaller roles to steadily gain a footing with good reviews. Yes, she is who she is in terms if her family but not like, she has a choice there. And no, not a single person in this world abandons their family over financial crimes, I don’t expect it here either. Family is complicated and so is family bonds people share. I hope she breaks it off with him. Golden boy image or not, she doesn’t deserve this.
@Gem – I would think of it as silly teenage antics/tantrums if the celeb involved was someone with very young fans….but Lee Seung Gi’s in his mid-30s, his fans are grown adults by now, and they still behave like this?
I can’t even blame incomplete brain development for such a mentality the way you can for teens (their frontal lobe isn’t finished developing).
These people are mentally not healthy and should focus on their own therapy or treatment. He is a grown man in relationship with a consenting, adult woman. There is no 3rd party approval needed here.
These fans honestly should stop being self-righteous, who are they to determine what other people should do. If they do not agree with him and decide to stop supporting him then they should just stop instead of forcefully creating a presence for themselves and attempting to test their importance to him.
As crazy as these fans are, their behavior makes sense in a twisted way.
Think of them as stock investors in a company (yes, celebrities are the equivalent of public goods / company), and when they see the their investment going wayside, they’re going to exercise their voting rights. It’s like activist investors battling the company board for control over the company.
That being said, I have never seen this level of entitlement in any other entertainment industry. K-ent really takes the take in terms of possessiveness.
LSG is not the first celeb I’ve seen this whole ‘disapproving of the bf/gf’ thing happen to, though he is the first one with a protest truck.
He might have encouraged fan investment by having that nice-boy image but he was 17 when he started, if his fans have boundary issues when he’s freaking 34, that’s on them too.
Didn’t he see this coming when he started dating her? He seems like someone whose public persona is everything to him. Weird that he would risk all that for this relationship. Well, good luck to LSG, hope he makes the right decisions, whichever way this goes now.
These commenters come from Asia or not? I guess not because if you’re, you will know in Asia you’re not just marrying the said individual but the whole family. You really want to be related with a criminal relative? I understand why the fans are mad, if I were his family I would oppose this relationship too, if he had the intention to marry, but if he just wanted to have fun, the backlash wouldn’t be this big. The problem is there are signs that he is pretty serious about the relationship.
That’s all well and good but is it also part of Asian culture for strangers to try to dictate who someone does or doesn’t marry by making a big statement about “we will not support this relationship”? That’s not culture, that’s just entitlement.
Geez the fans are chaotic and dishuman wkwkwk
I don’t understand this fan attitude . When i like an artist is for what he does ( music, acting,…) i don’t care about his private life as far as he doesn’t harm anyone mentally or physically . I buy an album, or go to watch a movie that’s all . I can understand in some ways idol ‘s fan because they are young but the guy is old . i didn’t even know that actors have this kind of fan club ! Shouldn’t all this people save their money instead of giving it away for something that seems to me pathetic . It’s his life . Currently watching imitation drama and i pity people who can’t live because of their fanclub . It’s horrific .
I’m not going to stop to watch a drama or listen an album just because i don’t like an artist’s girlfriend . Freddie Mercury was a druggie, Charlie Chaplin had sex with underage girls, … I still listen Queen, i still watch Chaplin’s movies , …
Gosh I love Freddy. Amy drama with his music I watch. Lol.
Since this is a site for k actors mostly, people here are not familiar with how idol fandom culture is in korea. Seunggi is not an idol but he is treated somewhat like one, his fans who supported him (literally) 17 years are the ones most dissapointed. New fans and casual fans dont understand but if you are an old airen you would feel these fans’ sentiments. Imagine his crystal clear image shattered with just him being associated with this woman. It’s easy for us to judge these fans as lunatics but realistically as International fans, what did we ever do to financially support our bias? It’s really the kfans that hits the most because they were there for him physically and financially. He has held concerts in Korea from 2010 to 2012, a solo artist filling up a big stadium all because of these ‘lunatic’ fans…not to mention these fans of his are older generation too. Sad to say public opinion of him has shot down drastically. Public opinion dictates projects and CFs…thats just how being a celeb is.
@pothokeid ,i’m not korean but i’m aware of what you wrote but i’m not saying that his fans are idiots . I’m just saying that they should be only concerned about what his “art” but if they love him as a “family member” i may understand their point of view . Sorry the offence .
From what i read, the truck is not officially from LSG gallery fan club, but from one/some fans of him.
When the dating news was released, Seunggi received criticisms from majority of k-netizens. The articles topped the chart, with mostly negative reactions. There is no way around for the fans to protect Seunggi as even some of his fans are also among the direct victims of the stock manipulation which affected 350,000 people.
This is the statement made by the LSG gallery fanclub:
“Currently there have been articles by the media that claim that his fans are supporting his relationship, falsely naming Lee Seung Gi Gallery in them along with a manipulated image of what claims to be an official statement from us. In addition, we would like it to be clearly known that Lee Seung Gi Gallery respects Lee Seung Gi’s private life. However, there are no fans that are able to support a relationship in which he receives criticisms over a matter that is unrelated to him”
To be realistic, in real life love comes and go. Its not like people are not allowing him to date. He is precious to the korean netizens, especially to his long-time fans who of course want him to be happy. Can Seunggi be happy married into the family, who is at least hated by the 350,000 victims? If he love her to the point of willing to sacrifice the career, the image he built up and protected for 17years, then its up to him. But the disappointment felt by people is understandable.
I hope this is an eye opener to fans of not just Seunggi but all celebrities, to put primary focus on their own life, giving support to those in needs without expecting anything in return. The more you love and obsessed with someone, the greater your disappointment when things not going the way you wish for.
Lol, only in sk is this possible. Though I’m afraid I’m no longer surprised how far these fans would go for their idol but if older generations act like this then i can no longer blame younger fans… You are what you sow afterall. Their possessiveness and pettiness is over the top.
This! Thank you @Anaa.
They must be getting married otherwise there is no reason for him to put up with this nonsense. These fans should be embarrassed seriously. I love him too but the delusion that I could own his dating life would make me completely unhinged.
If the dating news is leaked by LSG’s former agency, then LSG & LDI should be grateful to them. If they just announce their wedding date without this dating reveal, what a nightmare it will be to have that fan truck in front of their wedding venue. With this reveal, there will be enough time for the situation to calm down in the next few months, after those fans who opposed the relationship leave the fandom. They can date in peace then and prepare for their wedding.
I doubt his former agency leaked the dating news though. Though, it is a very small agency, there are 3 other celebs there, who have their own good reputations to uphold. Notably one of them, who is famous internationally in recent months. You can google to find out who they are.
LSG’s departure does create a huge dent on their revenue, but it will also reduce their expenses, eg. SG’s manager and his support team may follow LSG. The net impact will still be a lot, but may not be as much as when LSG was in military service when the agency had to keep his support staff.
There is no point to wish that LDI break up with LSG, cos of his fans objection. The root cause of the problem is LDI’s stepfather fraud cases, not LSG fan base. If she dates someone else in the entertainment industry, who are popular, has huge fan base and a clean image, she will face the same problem, ie. objection from the fans. If she dates a chaebol family, she and her family would also face scrutiny from the chaebol family. Since she comes from rich family herself, her own family will probably objected if she dates a “nobody”. That’s just how the rich family works in Asian countries.
LSG probably has anticipated that there will be negative reaction from his fan base, given her family background. Yet, he is willing to put his neck out for this relationship, so he is serious about this relationship. Worth to keep this guy, I would say.
I am from East Asia but not Korean. Western culture is different from that of the Asian’s and this is the Korean’s manner of protecting the person they idolized. LSG knows the GF’s family better than we outsiders do and in spite of what the biological father, the stepfather and mother has done LSG is willing to have ties with the family. Isn’t it obvious, LSG likes them, so this applies to “birds of the same feather flock together” a proverb which extends to the DNA. Fans of LSG must have idolized a person they don’t really know.