The K-pop fan community has been in uproar over allegations that HYBE exploited the dating rumors between V (BTS) and Jennie (BLACKPINK) for strategic gain, particularly in shaping the public image of its artists. Leaked internal documents have fueled controversy, unveiling troubling details about how the company reportedly managed these rumors and V’s relationship with the public.

As a result, fans have started reviewing HYBE and YG’s attitudes when the dating rumors broke out.

On May 23rd, dating rumors of BLACKPINK Jennie and BTS V started to spread all across the net. This rumor stemmed from several photos, said to be of V and Jennie together in Jeju. However, fandoms of BLACKPINK and BTS soon pointed out several details that suggested the photos were a product of editing. 

According to fans, what’s most necessary at that moment were official statements from YG and HYBE, yet both companies remained curiously silent. As a result, several news sites started to mention the two idols together in articles, even using heart emojis to suggest a romantic relationship.  

This situation would continue unless YG and HYBE gave their official stance, said fans. However, there were still no signal of any rebuttal nor confirmation from both agencies.

At this, some netizens can’t help but wonder what exactly the silence meaned, leading to conspiracy theories and assumptions. According to some, both companies might be using the hype from Jennie and V’s dating news to garner attention for BTS and BLACKPINK’s upcoming releases, seeing that BTS is confirmed to comeback on June 10th, while BLACKPINK is rumored to return within the summer. 

In addition, V and Jennie were not the only ones affected in this fiasco, seeing that Jennie’s alleged ex-boyfriend BIGBANG G-Dragon became a hot topic as well. Even normal photos of G-Dragon became articles with titles like “G-Dragon’s thin arms, devastated after alleged breakup with BLACKPINK Jennie.” 

At that time, according to certain netizens, it couldn’t be a coincidence that 3 A-list celebrities got entangled in a rumor at once, and therefore, the dating news might be a form of media play.

As a result, many netizens believed that the recent rumors were HYBE and YG’s collaboration to highlight BLACKPINK and BTS prior to comebacks, as well as bury the issues around Kim Garam. To them, this is a convincing explanation to HYBE and YG’s complete silence.