Opinion: Lunatic ‘Sasaengs’ are a Global Shame
Another unfortunate and abhorred event happened today. It is widely known throughout the K-pop world that the EXO fandom has a status of being violent and disturbing. Today’s events have defined and branded exotics as lunatics and sasaeng. ‘sasaengs’ are people (at this point, they shouldn’t be considered fans) who are obsessed about celebrities and worship them, sometimes to the extent of harming themselves, others, and the celebrity. But what is worse is that EXO has had enough of these themselves.
Baekhyun’s brother had a wedding today and EXO went to congratulate the newly married couple. What started out as a caring idea turned into a disaster, as a horde of sasaengs trespassed into the wedding venue and trashed it. They stood on top of chairs reserved for guests, destroying and moving around wedding props, and spread chaos. As EXO came to the venue, things exploded. The whole lobby was crowded with crazy sasaeng, who pushed around relatives just to take pictures and record videos of EXO.
Of course, with this special day ruined, Baekhyun’s relatives were not pleased at all, giving him negative looks. On behalf of the sasaengs, he went around to every guest and apologized. He even went to the waiting room to profusely apologize to the bride, who was shocked at everything that had just occurred.
When EXO sang a congratulatory song, they shoved their way through everyone and stood on chairs to record them singing.
When EXO was standing behind the couple cutting their wedding cake, they were trying to take photos of them and get their autographs, blocking the event for the rest of the guests.
When Baekhyun took a picture with his family, the insane sasaengs were rapidly taking photos of him.
The members were constantly telling them to stop, saying:
“Don’t do this right now. We can do it later.”
Baekhyun, red-faced out of anger and embarrassment, told them: “This is my one and only brother and his one and only wedding! Why would you do this?!”
As the wedding progressed, the psychos grew more out of control. It came to a point where Baekhyun ignored all of them. One of them hit him violently in the throat, in an attempt to mar his vocals out of anger.
Besides physically harming him (opinion-what kind of twisted love is that anyway, to treat your bias like that), these demented humans placed Chrysanthemum flowers-traditionally reserved for the deceased in front of the SMTOWN building just for Baekhyun, just because he ignored them.
The guests and most importantly, Baekhyun’s brother and wife, experienced a very negative and awkward wedding.
Baekhyun’s cousin was very upset that she could not chat with Baekhyun-whom she has not seen in over a year.
The following is the translation of her blog post about the wedding:
[TRANS] Baekhyun’s cousin’s blog post about Baekbom’s wedding yesterday (Baekhyun’s brother): I am sad as Baekhyun’s Cousin and therefore leave a post. As baekhyun and baekbeom (will refer to as 2baek)’s cousin, I am so mad I leave this post. As you all know, it was beom’s birthday and as a relative, I was already there early but as people started arriving, young people I have never seen before appeared and disrupted us, stood there, sat on the chairs that were for guests, etc.
There was no reason for so many young people to be at this wedding so I asked if they were from the bride’s family and they randomly asked, “Did baekhyun arrive yet?” “When is he coming?” and such. I knew exo was popular, but I did not expect them to come to a wedding ceremony, my head felt really weird. As more people arrived, beom was out in the lobby greeting the guests; they were standing there and touching their cameras and camcorders.
About 30 minutes before the ceremony, baek and exo arrived and I could not even ask how he was doing after not seeing him for one year. I was pushed here and there it was just crazy; and the lobby wasn’t even a small place yet it was packed with people and at least half of them were following exo and screaming or flashing their cameras.
We eventually called the workers and sent them out, but for the 5-10 minutes they were there, they messed the place up and Baekhyun was apologizing to everybody, relatives’ expressions did not look too great… The bride heard the noise and was shocked in the waiting room and as baek was talking to the bride, I was next to them and he continuously apologized and looked very pitiful. It makes me mad although the ceremony went out like planned, I was still kind of upset.
The sasaengs that were at the event posted their messages on their social accounts. A sasaeng fan posted a disgustingly disturbing message on her Daum account. She said, “Baekhyun-ah, I told you…Stop messing around, or we really don’t know what we’ll do next…Why do you think we went all the way there and caused a fuss?…Our puppy is so cute when he’s mad…But it’s time to tone down that personality isn’t it? You’re a public figure hehe…Try treating us like we’re insects one more time, we really don’t what we’ll do next time…And send your brother our congratulations on his wedding~”
This does not stop here. It has not been the first time EXO has been plagued with sasaengs.
In an interview with Sports Seoul, EXO has addressed this problem, revealing the hardships they have because of sasaengs. For the most part, EXO kept their answers fairly nice and polite.
They have stated that sasaengs are a huge problem-not only just for themselves, but also for the innocent people around them, harming their neighbors and anyone who is near them at any time.
The sasaengs have been found jaywalking through traffic, pushing, shoving, using force around people, and sleeping in front of and around their dorms, doing immature and violent things.
Normal fans (who do not stalk EXO) have been blamed and branded for those actions.
The sasaengs are so intrusive that they will find out their overseas schedules, and book tickets with the same flight as EXO, so they can take non-stop pictures of the members, bothering EXO, the innocent staff and passengers. It is quite unsettling to think how EXO cannot even get a break while they are traveling. As soon as they land, the sasaengs take cabs to follow EXO around.
Member D.O has more sasaengs than any of the other members, EXO said. D.O commented: “Personally, since we have so many sasaeng fans, I’ve started to feel victimized. It’s gotten to the point where my mood becomes negative even towards our normal fans.”
He continued, “Even my personality has changed. Even though I used to be shy and cautious around strangers, because of our sasaeng fans, I have become even more so.”
EXO-K’s leader Suho politely commented, “We hope you will support us at official events and concerts, and we thank you for your passion and your support, but we also have our own private lives. If you love us, please refrain from being sasaeng fan.”
EXO did clear up a rumor about a sasaeng fan shaving off her hair so she could follow them into the restroom, saying the rumors was false and it was an actual guy.
While this rumor is not true, the sasaengs have been known to do even crazier things then that. There are sasaengs who grope them, sasaengs who self harm and slit their wrists to sickly declare their loyalty and love, and sasaengs who would walk arm-in-arm with EXO as if they were couples.
Tao has recently posted about sasaengs on his Weibo in anger. He is losing his patience for sasaengs and their stalkerish, invasive actions.
He wrote that he was tired of sasaengs who call (how did they miraculously get their phone numbers) him and other EXO members in the middle of the night, sending them Kakao messages throughout the entire day, and following them around everywhere. He hates it when sasaengs disrupt his peaceful life. He wants to relax when he is done with the tiring work of being a celebrity. Nobody likes to be stalked. There is a fine line between loving a band and worshipping them. He ended the message saying that he would love his fans to love EXO the correct and normal way-no stalking.
Tao’s Message: “I’ve seriously had enough with these people calling us in the middle of the night, sending us kakao messages the whole day, no matter where we go there’s always some person secretly following us, is it fun? I seriously hate it when other people disrupt my everyday life! I like to go shopping, eat out and meet up with friends, but I don’t like being stalked. I’m not a sinner! I’m not going out to commit a crime! I just want some peace and quiet to relax and take a break once I’m off work, a time for myself! Not something like this!”
I loved to use the right way to love those people who loves us EXO! I do not know how to express my love. But I just want to tell that I love you all! Thank you.
Movements started by normal exo fans like the XOXO movement - http://bit.ly/199OQ2j - (started by IHaveAThingForEXO) have been receiving much support.
The aim of these types of movements is to stop circulating photos of EXO when they are not at any official event (eating, hotels, in front of the SM building, etc.) As for airports, fans should try to give them space, not shouting, ambushing, harassing, and shoving EXO and celebrities around. These movements also discourage the spreading of rumors/negativity about EXO and fans.
NO MATTER HOW POPULAR EXO IS, THEY DESERVE THEIR PEACE AND PRIVACY JUST LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE.
The whole point of this long-ass article? Be respectful to any celebrity’s privacy. Do not be like those horrible sasaengs, and know your limits. Every celebrity deserves this from his or her fans. They are human beings who are just like us, who need their personal space. Sasaengs are harmful to a celebrity’s mental help, and they will develop phobias with publicity. Even the bubbly taopanda has spoke out! Stop these revolting events, and give celebrities they love they deserve!
PEACE OUT!
AND REMEMBER, DON’T BE A SASAENG~
Written by Admin Mulberry / Graphic created by Admin AP
