Bang Si Hyuk, the chairman of HYBE, and BJ (broadcast jockey) Juice Seyeon (real name In Se-yeon), a popular streamer on AfreecaTV, have become a hot topic after they were seen together in Los Angeles. This has led to netizen rumors that Bang might be the fan club president of Juicy Seyeon. The situation escalated when the actual fan club president had to clarify the misunderstanding.

On AfreecaTV, fan club presidents are usually big spenders who donate the most "Star Balloons" (donations, similar to Twitch's bits) to their favorite streamers. Some of these top donors have been known to give millions of won (thousands of USD) in Star Balloons.

Recently, the actual fan club president posted on their channel, in a message to the netizens who were DM'ing him, "I’m not Bang Si Hyuk, so please stop messaging me and focus on your own lives."

The streamers then receive a percentage of the star balloon revenue, typically between 60% and 80%, depending on their status.

There have been many cases where wealthy fans, known as "big hands (whales)," donating large amounts at once. For example, BJ 핵찌 (Haek jji) received Star Balloons worth about ₩120 million (approximately $90,000) during a live broadcast, and BJ 티미 (Timmy) once received ₩130 million (around $97,500) in a single donation. Popular BJ Kim Seongtae also received around ₩50 million (approximately $37,500) worth of Star Balloons on his birthday.

In 2022, popular BJ Kim Si Won reportedly earned about ₩800 million (approximately $600,000) in a single month from Star Balloon donations. Recently, Seo Ji Soo, a former member of the girl group Lovelyz, made her debut as a BJ on AfreecaTV and earned ₩3 million (around $2,250) in just four hours.

In the second quarter of this year, AfreecaTV, reported record-breaking revenue of ₩106.5 billion (approximately $79.8 million) and an operating profit of ₩33.3 billion (around $24.9 million). This represents a 23% increase in revenue and a 41% rise in profit compared to the same period last year. A significant portion of this revenue comes from Star Balloons.

However, the Star Balloon system has also faced criticism. Some streamers have sparked controversy by creating overly provocative content to attract more donations. There have even been cases where fans even went into debt to donate Star Balloons.

In response to these issues, AfreecaTV has set limits on individual donations, but some viewers circumvent these restrictions by using multiple accounts.

SEE ALSO: Netizens sign petition to remove HYBE from "major business group" status to strip its tax privileges