Starship Entertainment has issued a public apology after one of their employees shared an inappropriate and harassing synthetic photo of Ahn Yujin from IVE on social media.

On January 15th, the company posted an official statement on its account, titled "Apology and Commitment to Prevent Recurrence Regarding the Infringement of Artist Rights."

In the statement, Starship expressed deep regret, saying, "We sincerely apologize to our artist Ahn Yujin, who was hurt by the serious mistake made by one of our employees managing our Chinese social media on January 9th, and to the fans who were also affected."

The company admitted that the incident was a result of poor management and emphasized that the employee involved had been removed from the duties related to the incident.

"We have taken the strongest disciplinary action and promise to overhaul our internal management system to prevent this from happening again", they added.

Starship also personally apologized to Ahn Yujin, saying, "We will do our best to repair the damage caused and are taking continuous legal action against those spreading false information and defamation about our artist."

The company concluded by saying, "We apologize once again for the disappointment and worry this has caused our fans. We will learn from this incident and strive to regain your trust by becoming a more responsible company."

The controversy began when the person in charge of IVE’s official Weibo account shared a synthetic photo of Ahn Yujin in a disrespectful context on January 9th.

Fans from both Korea and abroad were quick to criticize the mistake, which led to the company’s public apology and promise of action.

Source: [1]

BTS’s Jimin is once again proving his global dominance, especially in Japan, where his solo music continues to break records!

Jimin's hit song "Who", from his second album MUSE, has just been awarded the prestigious Gold streaming certification from the Japan Record Association (RIAJ).

This honor comes after "Who" surpassed a remarkable 50 million streams in February, making it the first solo song by Jimin to receive this certification in Japan!

The Japan Record Association certifies music based on total streams, with Gold for 50 million streams, Platinum for 100 million, and Diamond for a massive 500 million.

This achievement adds another significant milestone to Jimin’s growing solo career.

Previously, Jimin also earned a Platinum certification for his first album FACE (for 250,000 units shipped) and a Gold certification for MUSE (for over 100,000 units shipped).

With the Gold streaming certification for "Who", Jimin now holds a total of three prestigious certifications from the Japan Record Association, solidifying his place as a solo artist.

Not only that, but "Who" made waves on the Billboard charts, staying on the Billboard Hot 100 for an impressive 33 weeks, setting a record for the longest-charting K-pop solo song! It also spent 32 weeks on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, showing just how much love fans have for his music.

Jimin’s solo success doesn’t stop there, as GOLDEN also spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart, and Jimin continues to dominate the Billboard Japan Artist 100, where he has now charted for 47 weeks! Clearly, Jimin’s popularity is unstoppable!

Source (1)