On February 10, it was reported that Gyuvin of ZEROBASEONE and Dohoon of TWS have been selected as the new MCs for MBC’s ‘Show! Music Core,’ replacing the outgoing trio Younghoon of The Boyz, Sullyoon of NMIXX, and actor Lee Jung Ha, who will step down on February 15.

It was also reported that the female MC would be a member of SM Entertainment’s soon-to-debut girl group Hearts2Hearts. This news has come as a shock to many K-pop fans since Hearts2Hearts has not debuted yet.

Korean netizens speculate that the Hearts2Hearts member is receiving special treatment even before debuting, as she is under one of South Korea’s Big 4 entertainment companies.

Korean netizens are commenting:

"SM is incredible."

"Wow, becoming a music show MC right after debuting? That’s amazing."

"SM is really something."

"Honestly, neither HYBE nor SM looks good from a neutral standpoint. But if we're just talking about this situation, placing a trainee who hasn’t even debuted as an MC is extreme. No way to defend this."

"If they had selected a girl group member who had debuted already, people wouldn't be this upset. How did they even get picked when no one knows their voice or stage presence?"

"It’s a bit fishy that they’re an MC before debuting."

"Is this the big 4 privilege?"

"This is pure company privilege. If they’re doing this now, imagine how much viral marketing they’ll push after debut."

"I never defended HYBE or SM. I just think placing a trainee as an MC is crossing the line."

"It’s not an official audition process, so of course, big company influence plays a role. This whole industry is just them boosting their own."

"SM and HYBE are both problematic."

"SM and MBC are close, so no surprise here. lol."

"This is the most blatant company privilege I've ever seen."

"At least pretend to be subtle about it."

"It’s getting harder and harder for smaller companies to survive."

"Do people outside of K-pop fans even care about music show MCs?"

"I saw a comment on the previous MC resignation article speculating an SM rookie would take over, and wow, they were right."

SEE ALSO: Hearts2Hearts releases new image teasers for upcoming debut with 'The Chase'