Pledis Entertainment Issues New Statement Disproving Bullying Allegation Against SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu
Over the past month, several anonymous netizens claiming to be former schoolmates of SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu have posted online accusing the idol of school bullying (including against a disabled student) and sexual harassment. Pledis Entertainment has now issued a new statement denying one of the allegations against Mingyu.
According to Pledis Entertainment’s statement, company representatives contacted the original poster who claimed they witnessed Mingyu laughing at a classmate being assaulted. Those representatives confirmed that the original poster was, in fact, the reported victim of the incident, not a witness.
Representatives of our company were able to contact the individual who wrote the allegations that the artist stood by laughing while watching a middle school classmate being assaulted. While this individual wrote the posting claiming to be a witness in order to remain anonymous, the person had in fact been the student involved in this incident.
— Pledis Entertainment
Following this, Pledis Entertainment states that it worked to gather testimony from those surrounding the incident to uncover the facts. First, the company reports that Mingyu does not recall the incident in question and that Mingyu also denies encouraging bullying, laughing at a victim, and making insulting remarks.
First, the artist clearly stated that he did not recall the incident that was mentioned by the original poster, and he did not encourage assault against another student nor stand by laughing and making derogatory remarks.
— Pledis Entertainment
Next, Pledis Entertainment reached out to the alleged perpetrators from the incident as well as other students at the school, as named by the original poster. According to the company’s statement, none of these individuals recalled the incident either. The original poster then got in touch with a friend who was reportedly present, but the friend was also unable to recall the event.
The individual who posted the allegation named certain people as being the perpetrators, and our company verified the statements of those identified as the perpetrators as well as other graduates who are presumed to have been present at the incident. Not one of these individuals recalled the incident as happening as claimed by the original poster. The original poster then contacted a friend remembered as being present at the scene when the incident occured, who, according to the poster, also did not recall the event.
— Pledis Entertainment
As they were unable to corroborate their testimony, the original poster then informed Pledis Entertainment that they did not wish to continue discussions regarding the alleged incident.
Going forward, Pledis Entertainment expressed its concern over the scenario. While the company is glad that it has been able to dispel “this and all other previous incidents” alleged against Mingyu as untrue, Pledis Entertainment states that suffering has been inflicted on those involved and that dispelling the claims took much time and effort.
We are deeply concerned that a claim was published online regarding an event solely based on the memory of a certain individual, and that it is being allowed to conclude when recollections of the event are shown to be uncertain. While it is fortunate that this and all other previous incidents have been confirmed to be unrelated to our artist, we are forced to contemplate how much suffering must be allowed to be inflicted on those involved in such an allegation, in addition to the time and effort required to dispel such claims.
— Pledis Entertainment
That said, since the original poster in this case did undergo bullying from other classmates, Pledis Entertainment will not be taking further action against them. The company states that all discussions regarding this incident have been concluded and that fans will receive updates on any additional information which arises.
However, as we discussed this issue with the individual who posted the original allegations, we noted that this individual, while unrelated to the actions of our artist, did suffer from abusive interactions with classmates, and we have thus decided to refrain from taking additional steps and consider the issue to be resolved with the verification of the facts.
— Pledis Entertainment
Read Pledis Entertainment’s statement in full here:
Additional Update on the Issue Regarding SEVENTEEN Member MINGYU
Hello.
This is PLEDIS Entertainment.We would like to provide additional information on what we have been able to confirm regarding SEVENTEEN member MINGYU.
Representatives of our company were able to contact the individual who wrote the allegations that the artist stood by laughing while watching a middle school classmate being assaulted. While this individual wrote the posting claiming to be a witness in order to remain anonymous, the person had in fact been the student involved in this incident.
After hearing the original poster’s account of the events, our company worked to confirm the facts of the incident with testimony from the people mentioned as being involved as well as additional statements from other graduates of the school.
First, the artist clearly stated that he did not recall the incident that was mentioned by the original poster, and he did not encourage assault against another student nor stand by laughing and making derogatory remarks. The individual who posted the allegation named certain people as being the perpetrators, and our company verified the statements of those identified as the perpetrators as well as other graduates who are presumed to have been present at the incident. Not one of these individuals recalled the incident as happening as claimed by the original poster.
The original poster then contacted a friend remembered as being present at the scene when the incident occured, who, according to the poster, also did not recall the event. The poster then informed our company that since no one allegedly involved in the event did not have any memory of this event, the poster did not wish the discussion regarding the issue to continue.
We are deeply concerned that a claim was published online regarding an event solely based on the memory of a certain individual, and that it is being allowed to conclude when recollections of the event are shown to be uncertain. While it is fortunate that this and all other previous incidents have been confirmed to be unrelated to our artist, we are forced to contemplate how much suffering must be allowed to be inflicted on those involved in such an allegation, in addition to the time and effort required to dispel such claims. However, as we discussed this issue with the individual who posted the original allegations, we noted that this individual, while unrelated to the actions of our artist, did suffer from abusive interactions with classmates, and we have thus decided to refrain from taking additional steps and consider the issue to be resolved with the verification of the facts.
We have contacted and completed our discussions with everyone related to this issue who could be identified. We will provide an update if any additional information is made available.
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