Rosé-Jennie "vented" on SUGA, senior scandal caused bad news to be rehashed

Amidst the wave of criticism, many extremist fans around the world defended their idol by doing the #SugaChallenge, posting photos of themselves drinking fermented barley while driving. This made the public even more hostile towards Suga.

However, many BTS fans believe that the people who did this challenge are actually BLACKPINK fans, with the intention of smearing Suga. Therefore, many BTS fans have done #JennieChallenge #RoséChallenge to respond to BLINK. These people posted pictures of cigarettes to "tease" Jennie, posted pictures of drugs to imply Rosé even though YG has spoken up to clarify this rumor. These posts received a lot of attention, with one post reaching 940,000 views on social network X.

This is not the first time ARMY and BLINK have clashed. BTS and BLACKPINK are two "arch-rivals", competing with each other on every front and neither of their fans is willing to give in. The two sides constantly have endless, noisy "fan wars", affecting even the idols.

Pop culture critic Ha Jae Geun analyzed the situation and noted that the international BTS fandom's "fan wars" against other artists come from the differences between international and Korean fandom culture. Ha Jae Geun explained, "In Korea, there is an unwritten rule within the fandom that other artists are not mentioned. Due to the nature of the fandom, supporting one's favorite artist can lead to aggressive behavior towards others. In Korea, there was a serious conflict in the early days of idol culture, leading to an unspoken agreement to avoid mentioning other artists. However, this culture has not been popularized overseas, leading to things that do not happen in Korea happening overseas."

The expert also warned against jumping to conclusions: "It's hard to determine whether BLACKPINK fans created the #SugaChallenge, so it's too early to blame BLINKs. Even if they were involved, it's clearly wrong for international ARMYs to respond with false claims and attacks on BLACKPINK. It's important to realize that criticizing other artists is not a way to protect your favorite artists. It only hurts both sides and shouldn't be dismissed as just a cultural difference between international and Korean fans. Just as Korean fandoms are trying to adjust, now international fandoms need to do the same."

On the night of August 6, Suga fell while riding an electric scooter in the Hannam Ward area of Yongsan District, Seoul. Nearby police came to help and detected the smell of alcohol, so they took the male idol to the police station. Test results showed that Suga's blood alcohol concentration exceeded the threshold for revoking his driver's license.

After the media reported the news, Suga and his management company HYBE Labels both spoke up to explain and apologize. However, netizens "exposed" a series of lies in the company's explanation, from the type of vehicle, the distance traveled, the location where Suga fell to the amount of beer the male idol drank. In response to the public's harsh reaction, HYBE quickly "put out the fire" with an apology for conveying incorrect information, hastily concluding that Suga's vehicle was just an electric kickboard.

From the position of a global idol admired by everyone, everything changed overnight since the moment Suga (BTS) was involved in a shocking scandal in Kpop. Amidst the current public hatred, Suga was "dug up" with a series of moments in the past. The most prominent is the rap song about military service, which is currently causing huge controversy on Kpop forums. In 2013, Suga composed the rap song Adult Child with many sensitive words talking about the issue of military service. Accordingly, the male rapper expressed dissatisfaction, thinking that enlistment is a "death sentence for young people", even encouraging draft evasion. Specifically, the translation of the rap lyrics Adult Child - Suga). Conveying the wrong message, the rap song was strongly condemned by the public. 10 years have passed, Suga has just been criticized for the recent drunk driving incident.

Not stopping there, a series of moments of Suga drinking and swearing on stages of his solo World Tour D-Day were also heavily criticized. Before the controversy, these moments were praised by BTS fans as Suga's unique performance color. But now, this has become a "double-edged sword". The public criticized the image of indulgence and dependence on alcohol that Suga conveyed. Especially when most of BTS fans are young people, many of whom are minors.

Previously, on August 9, Korean media reported that Suga was under criminal investigation for the above behavior. The BTS rapper was found unconscious on the street by the police, with an alcohol concentration of up to 0.227%, 8 times higher than the legal limit. In this state, Suga driving an electric scooter is a serious violation of the law.

Suga's incident happened right when BTS was on hiatus to fulfill their military service. The male idol himself did not participate in military training but instead served in a public service role. The drunk driving scandal was considered an act that seriously damaged the image BTS had built. The public was angry with the global male idol's awareness.