Aespa‘s Karina has been in the spotlight a lot recently for her now-public relationship with actor Lee Jae Wook. While many fans were supportive of the couple and just want Karina to be happy, others have taken the news much more poorly and have gone to extreme lengths to show their discontent over the situation. For example, some even sent protest trucks to SM Entertainment and have accused Karina of “ruining her career” by the simple act of dating someone.
Karina (aespa)
All of this and more led to the aespa member posting an apology to fans on her personal Instagram account the other day.
Hello, this is Karina. Firstly, I am sorry to have shocked you so much. I was late [in addressing it] as I felt like I had to be careful since MYs were very rattled. I know very well just how disappointed MYs, who have been supporting me all this while, were and just how sad you must’ve been as you recalled everything we have talked about together. Because I know just how you feel, I feel even sorrier.
I’ve come to write you a letter, in hopes that my feelings are conveyed, even just a tiny bit. The reason that I’m writing this even though I’m worried that I may be hurting you again, is because I want to sincerely convey how sorry I feel to the fans who have given me the gift of the warmest winter, ever since I made my debut. In the future, I want to mend the wounds that MYs received. I have always been sincere towards MYs and even now, each and every one of you are such precious people to me.
This might be too short to express everything I feel, but thank you for reading it. In the future, I will not disappoint MYs and will show you a more mature and hardworking side of me as I promote. Please watch over me.
MYs, eat well and let’s meet in good shape. I’m sorry and very grateful.
— Karina
The apology spread far and wide online, with fans and non-fans alike sharing their opinion on the matter. And now, it seems that even those who aren’t fans of K-Pop music in general have become aware of the situation due to a particular post on Reddit.
A user on the platform shared an article about Karina’s apology on the subreddit r/facepalm, which has over 8 million members and is a very active forum in general.
And I thought female musicians in the west had it bad…
byu/RadioLiar infacepalm
The post picked up enough traction that the post ended up making it onto the front page of Reddit as a whole, bringing the news to even more people who otherwise likely never would have heard about it. And some of the comments on the post are brutal, towards both K-Pop idols and their fans alike.
The post was then shared on the r/kpop subreddit, which has a relatively smaller following at 2.7 million members.
Aespa’s Karina makes it to the front page of Reddit
byu/Oilasko_ inkpop
Many K-Pop fans expressed embarrassment and frustration in the comments on this post, annoyed that this is the kind of news that gets mainstream traction and the assumptions that non-fans are making about K-Pop idols and their fans.
It’s really no wonder that most idols try to keep their dating lives private, when this can be the result of going public!
