A series of topics attacking Jennie resurfaced on Pann Nate, filled with negative comments and rumors, which appeared 9 years ago.
Recently, the Kpop industry was shocked by the news of Soojin’s departure from (G)I-DLE following the school bullying scandal. This is considered breaking news because many fans thought that Cube would be determined to keep the group’s “ace” at any cost. On forums such as TheQoo, Pann Nate, Knetz started discussions over Soo Jin leaving the group when the allegations were not thoroughly investigated. Many netizens mentioned idols with similar controversies such as Lia (ITZY), Hyun Jin (Stray Kids), Irene (Red Velvet)… and asked these idols to also withdraw from their groups to be fair to (G)I-DLE. In addition, many posts brought up Jennie (BLACKPINK) and claimed that she is also a “bad example” due to several controversies in her personal life, especially being involved in school violence rumors.
Topic: “Seo Soo Jin left her group, Jennie should do the same”, posted on August 14.
Topic: “The reason why Jennie has to leave the group”, posted on August 17.
Topic: “Jennie’s school bullying case”, posted on August 17.
On August 17, a topic titled “Jennie’s bullying” entered the top trending on Pann Nate with more than 200,000 views and nearly 400 comments. Previously in September 2012, Jennie, still a YG trainee back then, was entangled in controversy by an online post accusing her of bullying her classmates, having a racist attitude towards Asians during her time studying in New Zealand. The original poster revealed some other information such as Jennie used to stay at a Korean friend’s house, returned to Korea for a YG audition in 2010, and also posted Jennie’s yearbook photo as evidence. This rumor was later refuted by fans and testimonies from other classmates. After many years, things have quieted down.
However, the owner of the post on Pann Nate on August 17 shared a screenshot of a message announcing that someone had recently filed a complaint against Jennie for school bullying to the police station. In addition, this post also summarizes some negative anonymous accusations about Jennie such as she got into YG thanks to her family’s money, rumors about her “real” personality, often bossing Jisoo around,…
The August 17 post on Pann Nate shared a screenshot of a message announcing that a complaint had been filed with the police station, and compiled negative comments about Jennie’s past.
Under the comment section, Korean netizens had mixed reactions. Many comments defended Jennie, saying that the information floating on the internet about her was fabricated to intentionally defame her, while others claim that “there’s no smoke without fire”. In fact, rumors of Jennie bullying her classmates not only surfaced once in 2012. After her debut (August 2016), this topic was seen many times online. In July 2020, the rumor that Jennie bullied an old classmate in New Zealand appeared again on Sohu (China). Most recently in February 2021, the YouTube channel Garo Sero also mentioned Jennie’s bullying incident. According to former reporter Kim Yong Ho, they have full evidence of the Black Pink member’s bullying scandal, in which a witness surnamed Kang who used to accuse Jennie, had revealed to be pressured by YG. Kim Yong Ho also said that the posts that “exposed” Jennie’s bullying had all been erased by YG to hide the scandal.
The first person to accuse Jennie posted information about the incident on her personal blog on September 1, 2012.
Jennie’s yearbook photo was given by the first witness. A testimonial from another classmate (not the first to report it) on Pann Nate on August 9, 2016, confirmed that Jennie bullied Korean classmates during her time in New Zealand.
Photo provided by the second witness.
Another ex-classmate’s accusation attached a photo of Jennie. This third witness also confirmed that Jennie used to bully her friends in high school.
Information on Facebook of one of those who accused Jennie of bullying. This person was born in 1995, attended ACG Parnell College, in New Zealand.
Comments from 2016 showed that someone claimed to see Jennie at Burger King in New Zealand, the writing in the yearbook was also Jennie’s.
In July 2020, another post on Sohu, in which the author (born in 1995) claimed to have been bullied by the character “KJ” born in 1996 while studying in New Zealand. This person then confirmed that KJ was Kim Jennie.
In February 2021, the YouTube channel Garo Sero mentioned actor Jo Byung Kyu’s school violence case and further mentioned the controversy related to Jennie.
In June 2019, the YouTube channel of former entertainment reporter Kim Yong Ho also mentioned Jennie’s bullying scandal in the video “exposing YG”.
Some comments from antifans:
“If YG was a small company, Jennie’s scandal would have broken out and her career would have been ruined”;
“Kim Yong Ho has all the evidence that Jennie had bullied her classmates”
“At this point, it’s vague to say that the information is fake”;
“Whether the news is true or not, don’t trust celebrities too much. Once you know the fact, you will be extremely shocked.”
“There may be some misinformation, but there is detailed evidence and many witnesses, that means something really happened.”
However, other people believe that these rumors are untrue:
“This is just a false rumor. That person has wrongly disclosed information about Jennie’s family. Classmates at the old school also testified that there was no school violence. Many sources say that the person who accused Jennie actually had a bad relationship and was jealous of her.”
“Rumors related to Jennie’s past appeared 9 years ago but there was never any real proof. I don’t believe it”;
“Jennie is an Asian who has studied abroad since she was a child and has struggled to acclimatise to a new culture. Why should she be prejudiced against her Asian classmates? It doesn’t make sense at all”‘
“A witness said that Jennie hated Asians so she only hung out with white friends. That’s wrong because I still see pictures of her hanging out with Asian classmates”.
Photo of Jennie hanging out with her classmates in New Zealand, in which she sat next to an Asian girl.
An old classmate asserted that Jennie was a nice girl
Currently, Knets still have mixed reactions to the controversy surrounding Jennie. Many individuals believed the issue should be re-investigated, and they encouraged witnesses to come forward with information. Many others asked Jennie to leave the band because she was surrounded by too many controversies (rumors of school bullying, underage drinking, being lazy, two dating rumors, etc.). Meanwhile, supporters were determined to preserve their idol and believe that the allegations are nothing to be concerned about.
