The MMO Entertainment trainee recently got stirred up in a foul play controversy after he communicated with his fans via social media about song selections for 'Produce 101' season 2. 

SEE ALSO: 'Produce 101's rank 5 Kang Daniel accused of foul play + apologizes for his actions

In response to the issue, Mnet announced to put a penalty on Kang Daniel during the concept round. 

Ultimately, Kang Daniel was penalized and harshly criticized by netizens for his unfair play. This made fans greatly concerned about Kang Daniel but the controversy actually had a winning effect on his popularity. 

Kang Daniel made numerous headlines and garnered significant attention. This made netizens grow more curious about the guy of the hot issue. Kang Daniel ultimately became the trainee with the second most views following Park Ji Hoon for the fan cam version of the group battle performances on Naver TV. 

His video recorded 2,290,097 views (as of 12 p.m. EST on May 10). 

On May 9, his video ranked #1 on the top 100 videos viewed by netizens in their 10s-30s and #3 by the netizens in their 40s-50s. In the top 100 ranking, Kang Daniel has beat Park Ji Hoon who has continuously ranked #1 on the show. 

Kang Daniel's video continues to gain attention. Currently, it's ranked #11 on the overall top 100 ranking. He is the only trainee who has entered the top 15 with the fan cam version. 

Seeing this, netizens commented, "Wow, what is happening to Kang Daniel lol", "He became more powerful", "Everyone around me loves him."

Bad press was good press for Kang Daniel indeed.