Seungri, a former member of popular K-pop boy band BigBang, has denied reports that he will attend an Indonesian event named after the scandal that caused him to leave the South Korean entertainment industry.
Indonesian event planning company TSV Management announced recently on Instagram Stories that it would be organising an exclusive event called Burning Sun Surabaya. The words “Best Honour” and an image of Seungri were featured in the post.
The event was scheduled to take place on Aug 31 at a club named Gentlemens in Surabaya, according to the poster included in the social media post.
The news sparked outrage among netizens, as it appeared to allude to the infamous Burning Sun scandal in 2019 that involved sex, drugs and police protection at a Seoul nightclub of the same name.
Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, was sentenced to three years’ jail. This was reduced to 18 months after appeal, and he completed his sentence in February 2023.
He was convicted on nine charges, including arranging sex trafficking for foreign investors in 2015 and misappropriating funds from the Burning Sun nightclub with which he was affiliated.
In an exclusive interview with South Korean media outlet Ilgan Sports on Aug 11, the 33-year-old singer refuted claims that he would be attending the Indonesian event, saying it was “obviously ridiculous”.
“I don’t even know where the Indonesian region is,” Seungri said. “It says I’m going there on Aug 31, but I have no plans to do so.”
He warned that he would take legal action over infringement of image rights and defamation over publication of false information.
“I want to live quietly, but stories about me keep coming out, so I have to set the record straight as people are tired of them,” he said.
TSV and Gentlemens have since come out to address the controversy in a video clip posted on Instagram on Aug 11, clarifying that there was no mention of Seungri attending on the poster.
They claimed that they mentioned Seungri and the Burning Sun scandal to remind clubgoers, especially women, on safety. They added that they would be cancelling the Burning Sun Surabaya event in light of the backlash. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
