tw // woojin , sexual assault , anxiety. please read with caution.
around 1 pm gmt+8, i noticed tweets from a cryptic account about a certain person from one of the big 3 companies saying that they had been sexually assaulted in a bar a few months ago. the account stated that the person was a former member of a group, and that they repeatedly used the group to assert power and authority to the victim.
people speculated it to be kim woojin from the victim's clues. people said that the victim confirmed it to be him, but i wasn't able to see a tweet about it.
after their story, their account was either taken down or deactivated, i'm not sure which. and since then, a few accounts had spoken up about their encounters with unnamed male kpop idols and what they had done. even more accounts were made to add confusion to the whole situation and drag other kpop idols in it.
a few hours later, woojin himself tweeted a statementㅡa short statement. he denied the victim's accusations by saying he didn't know the victim nor has he ever been to [the] bar, which the victim did not disclose. he continues by mentioning his upcoming debut as a soloist.
now, there were a lot of disappointed fans about this, but this only fluctuated more when he posted that statement, which for everyone, confirmed that it was him. apart from shamelessly promoting his career, he downright confirmed it was him by disclosing locations the victim did not mention. this started the circus of tweets clowning him, and concerned stays waiting for some response from the boys.
i watched a clip from chan's live implying about woojin's departure from the team, and he said that [he] was selfish and betrayed everyone, especially chan.
chan, who always took the hit for the boys, who posted a long paragraph about woojin's departure when the latter didn't even say a thing, who had to constantly look over the boys when they had to redo everything during cle:levanter era, who watched hyunjin break down infront of so many stays and witness jisung's mental health (and everyone else) deteriorate so much that he had to get professional help, handpicked woojin to be in his little team because he put trust in him to help the group grow and create fond memories with.
and when woojin left, all chan could say as per his idol duties was that he was betrayed. and because of this big information, all of us now know it's more than betrayal.
no sane agency would ever pull a departure announcement days before their comeback. but JYPE did that, swallowing the probable millions worth of budget for their comeback and redoing everything just to remove woojin from all of the upcoming content. they even went as to re-record some of their tracks, which was weird to me way before all of this happened. now we know why.
JYPE and stray kids want nothing to do with him, so everyone should stop putting the phrase 'former stray kids member' next to his name when he already left the company almost a year ago. this was a mistake on media journalists, because as they fish for readers with the phrase, they also come with the uncertainty of whether people will correlate this with the ot8 or not. with their steady rise of popularity and upcoming comeback, i hope everyone outside the stay community considers the fact that woojin isn't a part of the team anymore. this new content is something all eight of stray kids worked hard on to show everyone who they really are, without any trace of woojin whatsoever.
i've only been in this fandom for eighty days (i've been keeping count), so i wasn't really into woojin. but like everyone else, i was disgusted and ashamed. how could someone like him be with the most loving boys we've come to known and be comfortable with? to anyone who is overwhelmed, feeling betrayed, and hurt about this situation, please know that you never knew about this until today and it's okay to say you used to be a fan of him. the main point is that you realized he isn't what you think he is, and it's okay if you'll take your time before accepting it. take things at your own pace. you can always log out and reflect on this situation offline, and we'll always be here to welcome you back. it's okay if you decide to leave the fandom, we respect your decisions.
and to the victim, i hope they sleep better knowing they've told their story and i hope they know there's an entire (logical) community of kpop fans supporting them and wanting justice. that it doesn't matter who they are and what they do; sexual assault should not and should never be taken lightly especially with well-known people in the entertainment industry.
i love you all, and stay safe. support stray kids's comeback on september 14!
