Previously on June 2, a video capturing SEVENTEEN’s The8 at the airport was published on SNS platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Weibo (most popular SNS in China). Most noticeably, the video was captioned “Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The jackass that peed at Yasukuni Shrine has returned”, accusing the male idol of something he never committed.
Additionally, another video of The8, which was taken on the same day, also drew attention. In the video, the camera holder can be seen approaching the male idol at the airport and recording his passport, at the same time saying that they will expose his personal information.
Upon spotting the camera holder in question, The8 can be seen raising his finger to tell them to stop, an action which was called “rude” by the person filming.
As a result, various negative reactions about the male idol start to spread on SNS, angering fans – who defended him vehemently against these attempts at defamation.
With the situation constantly intensifying, XCSS – the China branch of The8’s agency Pledis, has issued an official statement, which specifically mentioned the airport incident.
The full statement is as follows:
“Recently, we noticed that certain people have continuously spread false claims targeting our artist Xu Minghao (real name of The8). They even tweaked certain parts of videos and spread them after adding malicious captions, seriously slandering his character.
To avoid the continuous spread of misinformation, which are making the public doubt and misunderstand Xu Minghao, we are making the following statement:
Xu Minghao’s personal documents are private information which are protected by the law. No one is allowed to invade another person’s private information through leaks, disclosures, or other means. The act of purposely filming and exposing the artist’s personal document at the airport is illegal.
The people who have taken things out of context, twisted the truth, and posted misinformation should immediately stop posting and spreading them, and immediately delete all false contents.
Regarding the actions and messages that violate our artist’s privacy and harm his reputation, we have been gathering related evidence and reserve the right to take legal action against relevant parties. At the same time, we would like to remind the public to maintain public order, respect and protect other people’s privacy and reputation, and together cultivate and protect a polite and friendly society and online communities.”
Source: Krb, X