JYP Entertainment's rookie boy group KickFlip recently faced criticism for not knowing the choreography of TWICE's hit song "Cheer Up."

The group appeared on the latest episode of 'Idol Radio,' and attempted to perform the choreography but appeared awkward and unpracticed. This prompted harsh criticism from some TWICE fans, which escalated to the point where KickFlip issued an apology through a live stream.

The group's apology sparked an online debate about whether they deserved such harsh reactions. While some netizens argued that the group didn't have to apologize over something so minor, some Korean netizens speculate that JYP Entertainment is using noise/viral marketing to bring clout to the new group.

Korean netizens commented:

"This should just be ignored... It feels like this is being used as a type of viral marketing lol."

"Is this just over-the-top noise marketing?"

"No, they’re actually getting hate. There's a group on Twitter going crazy with retweets, making fun of them. I just hope those people leave the fandom."

"It totally seems intentional. But because they apologized, now the rookie group is getting all this attention. There's no way JYP would make them apologize unless they were aiming for marketing. JYP has been in the industry too long for this to be a coincidence."

"You think they’d use something like this for marketing??? That’s ridiculous."

"But they’re seriously getting a lot of hate. Tons of retweets, and people are actually mad. There's no way the company did this on purpose… they got a lot of backlash for real."
"People really have too much time on their hands."

"Wow, K-pop fandoms are seriously going crazy these days."

"They’re getting criticized, but now people are covering it up by calling it viral marketing."

"If they’re apologizing over this, what does that make TWICE’s position in all this?"

"I’m not saying the original poster is a JYP employee, but just the fact that this is gaining attention and making headlines is a form of viral marketing. Would anyone even be talking about a group that debuted just two weeks ago without something like this? The apology video even made it to Hot Topics on TheQoo."

"Come on, do you really think JYP would use something like this for viral marketing? Looking at the comments, they’re getting serious hate. They probably didn’t need to apologize, but maybe JYP just wanted to settle things before it got worse."

"It’s not something they needed to apologize for, but not knowing the choreography is weird… They’ll probably be asked to do it on other shows now."

"That’s just how I see it. The entertainment industry has all kinds of marketing and viral tactics, and they care more about being mentioned than being ignored."

"They kind of danced to it, though? It’s weird to criticize them for not knowing it and also weird to make them apologize..."

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