This year, despite having experienced their share of bumps along the road, Block B signed with new agency Seven Seasons and had a very successful comeback. All was very quiet on the Block B controversies front for a while, until a blog entry that an adult stage actress named Lee Yoo Rin had written regarding member Jaehyo gained significant popularity online.
Yoo Rin wrote:
“Sometimes, I think about this; I want to have a one-night-stand with Block B’s Jaehyo. Good-looking men make me happy,”
The actress is clearly quite open and relaxed about her fantasies, but Seven Seasons did not take the statement with a similar sentiment. They wrote an official response, suggesting that the company was considering taking legal action against the actress. They regarded the blog post as sexual harassment and believed that Yoo Rin was using Jaehyo to gain publicity. To my knowledge, legal action has yet to commence even after time passing, and it is unclear whether the two parties have instead managed to settle the business privately. However, I personally cannot help but think that this whole thing was all a mountain made out of a molehill.
Firstly, Jaehyo is an idol and he also takes the role of ‘visual’ in the group. It is a part of an idol’s job – in most cases – to come across as single and available to their fans. There is no denying that Jaehyo occupies a sexually active and available image within his work. One would only need to watch a few Block B music videos to see this, as Jaehyo is often busy making seductive expressions to or kissing a female. Of course, since the dawn of boy bands, entertainment industries have been bringing the saying: “sex sells” to life through their content and making fans (predominantly girls) swoon and get a little hot under the collar is nothing new. Many companies and idols themselves perpetuate the idea through engaging in ‘fan-service’ and even playing up to well-known slash-fiction pairings within their group. Whilst sexual fantasy involving idols is not for every fan, there is arguably a place for it in every franchise’s fandom.
Moving onto the second part of my argument, presumably Seven Seasons are worried that this sort of thing will ruin Jaehyo’s image. It is understandable that protecting a celebrity’s image would be a main priority for entertainment agencies as it can make or break their popularity incredibly easily. However, in this particular situation, is Jaehyo’s image even in danger of being affected at all? Someone expressed her sexual fantasy involving an idol in a public forum and it was quite inappropriate, but it doesn’t mean it actually happened! If anything, this incident will reflect badly on Yoo Rin rather than the Jaehyo. Consider that someone is shouting an insult at you and you choose to not respond, but then you are labelled as the nasty one. Could that ever happen in a rational world?
Lee Yoo Rin chose to share her sexual fantasy on her blog, whether or not she did so through the want for publicity or through the simple want to share it is not known, but I am inclined to feel that any action taken on Seven Seasons part would be unnecessary. I am not suggesting that because Jaehyo is an idol, that he should not complain if he gets sexually harassed, just that I personally fail to see this instance as sexual harassment in the first place.
Yes, sexual fantasy is a slightly embarrassing and inappropriate thing to share with everyone in the world, but surely celebrities must be used to playing a part in some of their fan’s imagination? Personally, I would probably be a little creeped out if I was in Jaehyo’s position, but then I would like to think I would accept it as a part of my career and move on.
That’s my opinion, but what do you think? Is legal action the right way for Seven Seasons to go, or is there another way to go about it?
Please leave your comments below this article.
[Quote source: kpopstarz.com].
