[2025 UPDATED] (Problematic things Super Junior has done)
Problematic things they have done since pre-debut to 2025 (now).
Trigger warning: racism, misogyny, paedophilia, homophobia, Sulli's passing and other sensitive topics.
The whole group:
The main actress in Super Junior's "Devil" MV was only 14 years old. The main actress admitted her age on Instagram during the "Devil" era. She drove a car, kissed Siwon, seduced Kyuhyun, pointed a gun at Kangin, and flirted with Yesung.
Leeteuk:
Told Suzy to lose weight in front of Miss A members. Leeteuk said, "Suzy needs to lose weight first." After this statement, both Jia and Fei told Leeteuk to "knock it off". Kan Mi Yeon also disapproved of what Leeteuk said, and he quickly tried to move on with a smile after saying he was just joking.
Said "I really dislike fat girls. I don't think they take care of their bodies well."
Performed with Boom, who was doing blackface while performing (With Shindong and Eunhyuk).
Being creepy to Yeonwoo by trying to message her on Instagram but ended up messaging a fan account. He said "Yeonwoo-ya".
Being creepy to Yoona, Krystal, and Sooyoung when they were minors. Krystal and Leeteuk were on the same show in 2011. Leeteuk mentioned that he had asked Krystal to marry him back when they first met. Krystal joined SM when she was 11. Leeteuk met Krystal when she was 11 and he was 22/23. Yoona exposed Leeteuk for asking her to marry him when she was 13 and Leeteuk was 20. Leeteuk grabbed and hugged Sooyoung when he was excited because of a World Cup match in 2002. Leeteuk was 19 and Sooyoung was 12. SM's female and male trainees weren't allowed to hang out together anymore because of that incident. Sooyoung was Leeteuk's first love.
Forced Minah to kiss him for the “sake” of a prank. Minah was shaking her head and trying to send covert signals, but he just pressed on with it and kissed her on the lips, even though she had her mouth tightly shut and said “Do it on the forehead! On the forehead!” Leeteuk put her in an uncomfortable situation one that she did not consent to. He was asked about it later and gave a really… weak excuse to reason his kiss, which did not make him look good.
His top advice for dating women was to make sure they're young and keep serving them drinks.
Leeteuk asked the Korean government to ask Korean citizens to pay taxes so that celebrities could ride taxis using the citizens' money.
He and Shindong defended Kangin who has a history of crimes at Ryeowook's wedding. Leeteuk said people should support Kangin so that he can earn a living despite his crimes. Leeteuk said, "Everyone, you’re now seeing Kangin, whose self-reflection time is longer than promotion time. Please forgive Kangin now. Kangin, who’s reflecting for 15 years & promoted for 5 years". Leeteuk proceeded to say "On a happy & great day like this. Please hug/hold Kangin" and Shindong replied "Yes". Leeteuk also said, "Please give him love, so that Kangin will able to make a living" and Shindong replied, "Please help him a lot". Then, Leeteuk said, "(We) ask for everyone’s help".
Said, "When girls shed tears, it's just water coming out of their body, but when guys shed tears, it's their blood coming out of their hearts."
Had a crush on Sunye (Ex Wonder Girls) when she was 13 and he was 19. Leeteuk said “When I first saw the 13-year-old Sunye, I thought I had stopped breathing”.
Said he loves Donald Trump and Elon Musk at SMTOWN LA.
Heechul:
Wore cornrows.
Wore a headscarf in a similar way to a hijab in ‘A Style For You’ episode 4.
Had a crush on Sohee when she was 16 and said she was his ideal type. Sohee was 16 and Heechul was 25 in 2008. Heechul confessed his love for Sohee many times.
Japanese fetish. For instance, he referred to himself as "uncle" and then proceeded to ask Kazuha for her phone number. Kazuha was 19 and Heechul was 39. Heechul is known to love anime and anything Japanese including Japanese women. Heechul reacted creepily when Nako was asked to make an impression of Yazawa Nico. Heechul dated Momo (a Japanese woman). Heechul has a body pillow of a 14-year-old anime girl.
Discussed a woman-centred community online that was being sued by an incel YouTuber named Bokyeom. He proceeded to take the side of the incel YouTuber and called the women that were in the named community misogynistic slurs. He further mentions how he donates a lot of money as if that had anything to do with the issue.
Commented on the Japan-Korea-related boycott but since I'm not very educated on the topic aside from knowing the fact that Japan once violently colonized Korea. I will not comment on this issue.
When Sulli passed, there were lots of discussions on the misogynistic hate comments being possible reasons for her passing. Even though I disagree with speculating about the reasons for someone's passing, I do think it's important to highlight the unjust misogynistic hate she received. Heechul, however, felt the need to reduce these discussions to gender wars by saying that the hate Sulli received had nothing to do with gender issues and those discussions were just a way of pitting the genders against each other. He is ignoring the fact that Sulli was very outspoken about gender injustice against women. By writing these posts as her friend, he was dismissing the values she always stood up for.
Caught being subscribed to a channel that blamed the victims of the "Nth Room" incident. A lot of women were trafficked, threatened and trapped in online networking sites to perform sexual acts while people, mostly young men, recorded them and forced them to do things according to their disturbing fantasies.
Being rude to Ningning on Knowing Bros. Karina, Winter and Ningning appeared on Knowing Bros. He asked all three girls, "Do you look at a guy's looks or not?" and Ningning immediately responded, "I don't.". Everyone was doubtful of Ningning's answer and protested against her answer. That is when Heechul decided to speak up. He blurted, "Young Chul has the best personality among us," and implied to ask her if she would date him or not. Ningning responded with, "Oh really? And..." making everyone laugh. Ningning was 20 (born in 2002) and Young Chul was 48 (born in 1974).
Danced to "Tunak Tunak" in a stereotypical/mocking way along with Blackpink on Knowing Bros.
Used an Native American headdress filter on Instagram.
Defended his former teammate Kangin, who had a history of drunk driving and scandals, and used strong language during discussions related to school violence and a specific online community. He appeared on a live broadcast for Afreeca TV with BJ Choi. During the broadcast, he got seemingly very drunk and gained a lot of negative attention for his comments on topics. During the broadcast, while talking about his former bandmate Kangin and him being a fighter, ASTRO’s Cha Eunwoo was suddenly mentioned. Heechul explained how close he is to the singer, adding, “I’m so close with Eunwoo. He’s so handsome, but he’s such a manly man (literally translated as alpha male)”. The term “alpha male” can be interpreted negatively as some of the traits can be seen as toxic. Although Heechul seemingly meant to praise Eunwoo, his following statements gained attention as he related it to the rising topic of “school bullying”. Heechul said, "If you talk to him about school bullying, he would have cussed more than me". Heechul seemed to paint Eunwoo as someone violent and aggressive when Heechul started explaining how he thought Eunwoo would act upon hearing about a bully. Heechul said "I understand why he is popular, of course. He has an image on TV, but if he heard about a school bully, he would be like, ‘Hyungnim, bring that f**ker here,’ and would have slapped him. He’s such a manly man (Alpha male) who likes to exercise…".
Defended "Idol School" after it was accused of sexualizing children (young girls as young as 13 were made to dance with wet white tops) by K-feminists. Heechul was a judge on "Idol School" and then became a mentor for fromis_9 after their debut.
When Red Velvet appeared on Knowings Bros, Irene was asked to wear acupressure slippers. It's hard to wear acupressure slippers while standing, let alone jump with them if you're not used to them. Irene was skipping while wearing acupressure slippers. The jumping rope hitted her head. Heechul asked her if she was in pain because of those slippers. Irene replied it was just the rope hitting her, but Heechul insisted that it was the slippers that hurt her. Irene got angry and said it was the jumping rope again, not the slippers.
Had a crush on Momo when she was barely an adult, she was 18/19 and he was 32. Heechul has been following TWICE since their debut because of their Japanese members.
Was rude to IVE on Knowing Bros. Heechul asked An Yujin, “Are you sure you guys aren’t rude on stage like ‘We are Daesang singers, and so we don’t need rehearsals?'”To which An Yujin pushed back, stating that IVE wouldn’t act like that and stopping Kim Hee Chul’s trolling in the process. An Yujin said "Is it mandatory for Daesang winners to act like that? We aren’t like that".
Hangeng:
Wore a Native American headband.
Yesung:
Did blackface to cosplay as Nick Fury and reposted his blackface photos 3 times after being called out.
Said "I think obese people are lazy".
Said that fat girls cannot wear mini-skirts. When asked, "What's the most unattractive image when a woman wears a mini-skirt?", Yesung chose "women who have fat legs." The other answers were, "women who have hairy legs" and "women who open their legs when sitting.".
Choreographed and participated in a racist dance to mock Indians and portray them as "snake charmers" (With Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun). Yesung put a snake prop/fake snake around his neck and it looked like he used his hands to charm the snake.
Kangin:
DUI hit-and-run. On October 16, 2009, around 3 AM, Kangin collided with two parked taxis and left the scene of the hit-and-run incident. The occupants of the two vehicles, including the drivers and two passengers, were reportedly uninjured. Five hours later, Kangin turned himself into the police. He was recorded to have a blood alcohol content of 0.082% when he arrived at the station. He then failed to show up at the Seoul Gangnam Police Station at 2 PM on the same day for further investigation and had to be called in the following day.
Second DUI hit-and-run. On May 24, 2016, Kangin was involved in another DUI hit-and-run incident, where he turned himself in after a few hours. He was then found with a blood alcohol content of 0.05%. SM Entertainment has issued a statement, stating his future activities were cancelled while he reflects on his actions. He entered the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on June 15, 2016, to face questioning over causing a traffic collision while under the influence of alcohol. Prosecutors summarily indicted him on July 7. On September 7, 2016, Kangin was sentenced to pay a ₩7 million ($6,420) fine.
Reportedly assaulted his ex-girlfriend. On November 17, 2017, police responded after receiving a call that Kangin was drunk and assaulting a woman at an escort bar in the Nonhyeon neighbourhood of Seoul. Upon investigation, police described it as “a minor dispute, and the parties reconciled at the scene and took measures to return home.” with no injuries, and no parties wished for charges to be pressed, Kangin was sent off with a warning and not formally booked on any charges.
Called VIXX's N "fucking trash".
Made fun of f(x) Amber for being masculine by calling her a "man". Kangin said, “This is unfair we have 3 guys,” when everyone else said Amber’s a woman and scolded him.
Told Lovelyz to lose weight. He said “We can’t play this game because these girls are making a come back and they need to stick to their diets. They need to lose weight.”
Shindong:
Wore a Native American headdress.
Did blackface to imitate Oprah.
Made fun of Shuhua's Korean language skills.
Accused BTS of copying EXO.
Said "If someone had to lose weight, I would tell that person to lose weight. Lose some weight, why can't you take care of yourself? When I say this, the person might think, 'Look who's talking,' but I would reply, 'I'm a boy and you're a girl.'".
To this, both Kim Shin Young and announcer Gu Eun Young retorted, "Why does gender matter in this situation? So girls have to be skinny and boys can be..." Taken aback by their remarks, Shindong quickly explained, "I'm just saying. Honestly, I would want the person that I love to be more pretty or more handsome."
Performed with Boom, who was doing blackface while performing (With Leeteuk and Eunhyuk).
Choreographed and participated in a racist dance to mock Indians and portray them as "snake charmers" (With Yesung, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun). Shindong dressed up as an Indian girl and used a Sari.
Took photos of TVXQ's Yunho without his permission when he (Shindong) was a trainee and Yunho already debuted as an idol.
Shindong decided to react to Taemin's music video for 'Advice' which brought about a backlash from Taemin's fans. Like any other reaction video, Shindong sat down and gave his opinionated remarks while watching the video. As soon as the video started, Shindong gave a reaction of being impressed by Taemin's dancing. He said, "Every time I see Taemin's dance, it's just very...it feels like it's fast-forwarded. Oh this MV is amazing." Throughout the video, Shindong didn't hold back his praise. However, some fans took issue with one remark by Shindong. In the middle of the reaction video, Shindong said, "He's got this pretty visual so even when he is with female dancers, he goes nicely with them" and praised Taemin's advantages of having an androgynous look. He continued to say, "It's hard to tell if he's a guy or a girl..." which is the sentence that backfired on Shindong despite him saying it as praise and compliment. Quickly, many Taemin fans took to social media to criticize Shindong as they said his remarks were unnecessary. There were some even taking out their anger against Shindong and saying profanities against him.
He and Leeteuk defended Kangin who has a history of crimes at Ryeowook's wedding and agreed with Leeteuk's comments to support Kangin so that he can earn a living despite his crimes.
Made inappropriate comments towards Choi Yena (Ex IZ*ONE/Soloist). Shindong said "I went to a sperm bank yesterday". Yena said "Huh? What? What did you say?". Yena then said, “Wait, can you even say that? I don’t think you’re an idol.”
Sungmin:
Asking Leeteuk for marriage acceptance even though he was going through a very big family loss.
Scheduled the wedding to take place during Super Junior's scheduled performances.
Choreographed and participated in a racist dance to mock Indians and portray them as "snake charmers" (With Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun). Sungmin and Eunhyuk used flutes to look like they hypnotize a snake.
Wore a Native American headband.
Wore side braids.
Eunhyuk:
Made a girl cry on "We Got Married". On "We Got Married", the “Fighting Juniors,” which consists of Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae and Kyuhyun have been helping Leeteuk and Kang Sora in their “We Got Married” episodes, and they recently finished their first dates with the actresses Lee Sena, Shin Soo Yol, Son Eun Seo and Jung Yeon Ju. However, in the short duration of time that has passed, there have seemed to be changes in their opinions and thoughts. Before, Eunhyuk had chosen Lee Sena as his favourite, but later on changed his mind to Son Eun Seo, causing Lee Sena to cry in the final choices.
(Allegedly) dated IU when she was 19 and he was 26.
Misogynistic title track controversy (GGB scandal with Donghae). Korean fans have brought up the misogynistic connotations behind the word, accusing Super Junior D&E of not being mindful. The title of the song (GGB) is a phrase used when calling a woman, but it is a derogatory one. It is not completely a curse word, and there are instances where it is used amongst girls themselves or mother-daughters in a joking way, but it is similar to when some words can be used jokingly amongst the same race, but are considered racist for others to use. [Jijibae (GGB)] is a word that modern women are averse to, and it is especially unpleasant when it is used by a man. 10 to 15 years ago, it was more commonly used with the meaning of “bad woman,”. The word “jijibae” in Korean originates from the word “gyejibae,” which loosely translates to “wench.” While it can be used to refer to a woman or girl, it holds derogatory meaning and disrespect. This mistake can easily be avoided. They could've chosen another title for the song. It's not that hard to choose another title for the song.
Performed with Boom, who was doing blackface while performing (With Leeteuk and Shindong).
Choreographed and participated in a racist dance to mock Indians and portray them as "snake charmers" (With Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun).
Wore dreadlocks.
Wore a Native American headband.
Siwon:
Wore a dreadlocks wig in a performance (With Donghae).
Did too many homophobic things (×100).
Retweeted a homophobic tweet.
Posted a transphobic meme on Bubble.
Said "I do not wish to acknowledge homosexuals".
Dog biting incident. His French bulldog had a history of biting people. For instance, Leeteuk said Siwon's dog tried to bite him. Siwon and his family had a habit of not putting their dog on a leash despite the dog being aggressive. His dog bit an old lady and the lady died.
Openly supports Israel. In an interview, a reporter asked which city he would like to go and he answered "Jerusalem, Israel". Siwon said he wanted to go to Israel with one of his friends. He took photos with Israeli diplomats and had political summits/meetings with them. He said "Israel Elf", interacted with an Israeli fan, and acknowledged Israel as a country, etc.
Posted a photo of him drinking Starbucks during the boycott.
Fan of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Both of these presidents were/are horrible people.
Wore a Native American headband.
Mourned Charlie Kirk. Kirk was a Zionist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, supported slavery, supported gun violence and a Trump supporter.
Zhoumi:
Zhoumi laughed about the earthquake of 6.8 magnitude that hit Taiwan saying “When the earthquake struck just then, it was just like playing.” Moreover, Zhou Mi even used last year’s Si Chuan earthquake as a comparison, saying: “Last year, when we were promoting in China, we also met an earthquake, and it was pretty happy.” And Han Geng who was beside him immediately rushed forward to clarify: “He (Zhou Mi) doesn’t mean happy.” However, it was too late, as everything was already recorded by the media.
Supported China's movement of claiming territories in the South China Sea. He took to his Sina Weibo account to repost a nationalistic poster from the Chinese newspaper "People's Daily". It shows a map of China and the "nine-dash line" that covers most of the South China Sea. Accompanied by the caption: "This is China, not one bit less".
Donghae:
Wore a dreadlocks wig in a performance (with Siwon).
Eunhyuk said every time they have a comeback, Donghae suggests hair for him and tries to get him to do dreadlocks for a D&E comeback.
Wore braids in the House Party MV. He chose to do the hairstyle himself.
Wore an Elsa dress and a keffiyeh to be "Rich Elsa" and threw fake money to portray Arabs as "oil money rich people".
Was aggressive and tried to raise his hand against Irene after he lost a game. Irene got scared. Yesung got mad at him by saying "Why are you acting like a gangster?". In the episode, he was so mad every time he lost a point to Irene and said the game was a lie.
Donghae participated in the same performance as Xuan Yi who did the Bharatanatyam dance mockingly while wearing a Charlie Chaplin moustache and approved her of doing the Bharatanatyam dance. On a Super TV episode, Super Junior invited girl groups to their show. In that episode, each Super Junior member had to team up with a girl group to make a performance. Donghae teamed up with WJSN. Donghae chose Tunak Tunak as their song for their performance because he thought it was an exciting song. Both WJSN and Donghae choreographed, practised and participated in the performance. Each team had to get a prop/instrument to perform with, Donghae and WJSN got the Sogo. At the beginning of the performance, Xuan Yi did the Bharatanatyam dance mockingly while wearing a Charlie Chaplin moustache and did head bobbling movements. Then, the other girls and Donghae came behind her. After that, the other girls did head bobbling movements and then Donghae started dancing with them. It was WJSN's idea to make Xuan Yi do the Bharatanatyam dance. However, Donghae was the team captain and WJSN's senior. He fully had control of their performance. Plus, it was Super Junior's show. Even if he didn't do the Bharatanatyam dance or come up with the idea of Xuan Yi doing it, he was also guilty of approving Xuan Yi of doing the Bharatanatyam dance mockingly with a Charlie Chaplin moustache, didn't hold her and the other girls accountable and participating in the same performance as Xuan Yi.
Misogynistic title track controversy (GGB scandal with Eunhyuk). Korean fans have brought up the misogynistic connotations behind the word, accusing Super Junior D&E of not being mindful. The title of the song (GGB) is a phrase used when calling a woman, but it is a derogatory one. It is not completely a curse word, and there are instances where it is used amongst girls themselves or mother-daughters in a joking way, but it is similar to when some words can be used jokingly amongst the same race, but are considered racist for others to use. [Jijibae (GGB)] is a word that modern women are averse to, and it is especially unpleasant when it is used by a man. 10 to 15 years ago, it was more commonly used with the meaning of “bad woman,”. The word “jijibae” in Korean originates from the word “gyejibae,” which loosely translates to “wench.” While it can be used to refer to a woman or girl, it holds derogatory meaning and disrespect.
Ryeowook:
Made fun of VIXX's N skin colour.
Put Yesung's blackface photo as his Twitter profile picture and laughed at Yesung's blackface
Choreographed and participated in a racist dance to mock Indians and portray them as "snake charmers" (With Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, and Kyuhyun). Ryeowook did a dance move to look like a snake being hypnotized by Sungmin and Eunhyuk's flutes.
Wore a Native American headband.
Kyuhyun:
Def Conn was talking about a trade he did with an African American regarding some Micheal Jordan shoes to which Kyuhyun retorted “That scenario must have looked like a drug deal.”.
Harassed Goo Hara and Jessica for dating on Radio Star. He called Goo Hara a "slut", and said that if she gets pregnant her career will be over and if he opens his mouth again her career will be over. He asked Jessica many inappropriate questions and made her and other SNSD members uncomfortable, especially Tiffany. Every time Kyuhyun said something bad about Jessica, Tiffany defended Jessica and scolded him.
Thought India was uncivilized. So, he brought a spoon to Indian because he thought there were no spoons in India.
Liked tweets that criticized Changmin and Chen's marriages.
Choreographed and participated in a racist dance to mock Indians and portray them as "snake charmers" (With Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, and Ryeowook).
Wore a Native American headband.
When Joohoney stereotypically imitated how black people talk on Radio Star, Kyuhyun laughed.
After news went out that Hangeng had filed for provisional disposition of the contract with SM Entertainment, Kyuhyun wrote on his CyWorld account on 21st December after the news about Hangeng came out, “Even a beast don’t bite the hand that feeds one…I can not understand” expressing his disappointment about it.
Kyuhyun and other Radio Star hosts bullied Jiyoung (KARA) because they forced her to do aegyo but she couldn't.
Henry:
Kissed Yewon's thigh while carrying her on his shoulders on "We Got Married". This caused people to call him a pervert.
Revealed that when he first met his members, he thought all of them were gay and thought Heechul was trans and said those things worried him.
Persuaded Jackson (GOT7) to accompany him in going into the girl's room without permission and rifling through their stuff on episode 45 of SBS Roomate.
Used a stereotypical Indian accent to mock Indians, pretended to be Saruman, and thought Indian and Arab cultures were the same. A genie lamp was edited into the video.
Defended Yesung's blackface by commenting on Yesung's blackface post on Instagram. He commented, "If this is racist. then thor wearing the blonde wig is also racist. c o s p l a y .".
Henry and his crew culturally appropriated black hairstyles in his "I'm Good" MV.
Supported China's movement of claiming territories in the South China Sea (same with Zhoumi).