When does a K-pop fan’s support cross the line? Sunmi incident in New York shows that stars sometimes need to speak out
- With Sunmi telling an overzealous fan to ‘shut up’ at a concert, it’s time for some K-pop fans to look at how their behaviour affects their favourite stars
- If fans aren’t going to recognise the difference between supporting an artist and holding them back, then artists need to do it instead
On September 4 in New York, Korean singer Sunmi was on stage talking about the effort she had put into her “Good Girl Gone Mad” tour when she paused to address an overzealous fan who kept interrupting her with shouts of love and support.
“Shut up,” she said, later adding, “I love you, but shut up.”
The fan had been shouting things like “I love you” and “slay” apparently because of his love for the star.
But while he was cheered on at first by the crowd, support shifted when Sunmi spoke out, with the audience getting behind her after she addressed the rudeness.
Fans’ support is essential for any artist’s career, so calling one out for inappropriate behaviour is not a decision taken lightly.
Throughout the night, Sunmi regularly thanked her fans, known collectively as Miyane, for their support over the 16 years of her career, and even while telling the outspoken fan to rein himself in, she declared her love and gratitude for his support.
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Walking this delicate tightrope is something K-pop acts are constantly doing, as fan support can often be so overzealous that it’s disruptive, even downright dangerous – such as fan overcrowding at concerts.
Sometimes behaviour goes beyond that of even being able to call someone a fan, for example in the case of individuals placing tracking devices on boy band Ateez’s vehicles. These are stalkers, not fans, and the band’s label, KQ Entertainment, has regularly attempted to take legal action against such individuals, known as saseang fans. KQ is far from alone in having taken such action.
This conversation is one that K-pop artists, companies and fans have been having ever since the early days of modern K-pop in the 1990s, every time passion turns from something positive into something negative. There are too many instances to count in which stars have faced unconscionable actions from fans.
Though dubbed “idols”, K-pop talents are people too, and like all humans have a right to privacy and respect. While as celebrities they trade some aspects of autonomy and privacy for fame and fortune, there’s a level of decency all humans, stars or otherwise, deserve.
Fans need to ask themselves to what degree their behaviour is affecting their faves, especially if it has gotten to the point where stars need to speak up for themselves or even fear for their personal safety.
You may want to get noticed by a celeb you love so much, and even feel like you may deserve it as a supporter, spending your hard-earned money and time on them.
But there’s a difference between a supporter and someone holding them back, and if fans aren’t going to recognise those differences, then artists need to do it instead to ensure boundaries are set.
