Netizens are reacting to SM Entertainment's official celebration of Kangin's birthday.
On January 17 KST, SMTOWN uploaded on their official SNS accounts to celebrate the former Super Junior member's 36th birthday. After a series of controversies, Kangin left Super Junior in July of 2019 and alarmed netizens last year with an unexpectedly emaciated appearance. After seeing the posts made by SMTOWN, netizens expressed shock and mild disapproval for bringing attention to a 'controversial' figure.
Some netizens wrote, "I didn't even know he was still a part of SM...is he going to receive lifelong protection as their label artist??", "I don't think this is good rep for SM/Super Junior...why are they publicly celebrating his birthday as if nothing's happened", "What an interesting company. They would pardon everything. Then, why weren't they as attentive and generous towards female idols like f(x)?", "Isn't he like a former criminal? Wow, the fact that you can keep your job and receive support...I am jealous of him for being employed at a company like that".
Others commenters stressed that the 'hate' should therefore be directed towards the company itself rather than the idol or their fans. They shared, "There will always be fans willing to protect their idols. The problem that the company is still doing something that might potentially damage their other label groups...".
What do you think of this issue?
I don't see what the big deal is. Kangin's controversies centered around drunken altercations (which he was ultimately cleared of - other people harassed him) and drunk driving incidents (no one was hurt) where he turned himself in and accepted the penalty. As these incidents mainly centered around alcohol, it appears that he's had issues with drinking (not uncommon in SK), which doesn't make him a bad or evil person. He realized he had a problem and withdrew from SuJu and all of his mainstream schedules. I don't understand why people are so salty that they're upset about birthday wishes. I would think people should be encouraging him to get better rather than keep knocking him down.
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