[TW]LA Times Being Called Out For Inappropriate SuperM Interview (1 Viewer)

[VillageIdiot]

TW: Suicide mentioned
Article

But they’ve also endured tragedy, including the 2017 suicide of Jonghyun, Taemin’s bandmate in SHINee. These seven young men, none older than 27, face the all-consuming demands of K-pop celebrity and an industry going through a time of profound self-reflection and change.

As they limbered up for this set — maybe the biggest show of their young careers in this band — they knew the stakes.
...

But the squeaky-clean scene has, over the last few years, faced many of the same reckonings about overwork, toxic fan culture, misogyny and mental health that the wider entertainment industry has dealt with. Last year, K-pop was shaken by the suicides of two female stars, Goo Hara and Sulli, that thrust those long-simmering issues to the forefront.

Taemin knows that sense of tragedy more intimately than anyone. As a founding member of SHINee, he was devastated by the suicide of his bandmade Jonghyun in 2017. The loss shook K-pop as a whole, including all the members of SuperM. But Taemin lost a bandmate and close friend. He still struggles with how to speak about it, and when the topic came up, a Capitol rep encouraged him to be as honest as he felt comfortable with. He wanted to keep the personal pain of that loss private, he said, but acknowledged that speaking out on mental health issues in K-pop is the only way to effect change.

"When it comes to celebrities, it’s always kind of a double-edged sword. They’re loved by so many, but at the same time, they’re in the spotlight and everything they do is analyzed or scrutinize by so many people,” Taemin said. “But the industry is definitely changing for the better.”

 

[PrideInBaek]

Tf is wrong with that "journalist"? Where is the humanity?

Spoiler

humanity and empathy saara bech ke gayaa tha Kya interview lene?

 

[blueberries]

Its definitely heavy topic and shoukd be approached carefully. Amber did gave interview about Sulli, but that didnt seem out of blue. I havent seen possible clips so i dont know how carefully LA times approached it. But if they mentioned it again in interview after he didnt want to talk about it.. thats rly insensitive.

 

[Hajima]

anyone who think it's inappropriate to talk about the subject is straight out stupid.... it's good they discussed the subject.... i hope more and more people in korea wake the fuck up and stop being delusional... idols ain't products ...they are humans they aren't perfect they make mistakes..... let them live.... just today reading netzinbuzz article about Ryujin and chaeryung and these disgusting comments about chaeryung looks..... how many deaths they want to see to be satisfied???

 

[BlingyBlinger]

anyone who think it's inappropriate to talk about the subject is straight out stupid.... it's good they discussed the subject.... i hope more and more people in korea wake the fuck up and stop being delusional... idols ain't products ...they are humans they aren't perfect they make mistakes..... let them live.... just today reading netzinbuzz article about Ryujin and chaeryung and these disgusting comments about chaeryung looks..... how many deaths they want to see to be satisfied???

But bringing it up in Taemin's face right before his show even after he already expressed he didn't want to talk about it? That's majorly insensitive

 

[yeji]

I don’t like how forced that all was. Taemin has always been the one to shy away from heavy topics and it‘s probably still difficult for him to comprehend it all.

 

[VillageIdiot]

anyone who think it's inappropriate to talk about the subject is straight out stupid.... it's good they discussed the subject.... i hope more and more people in korea wake the fuck up and stop being delusional... idols ain't products ...they are humans they aren't perfect they make mistakes..... let them live.... just today reading netzinbuzz article about Ryujin and chaeryung and these disgusting comments about chaeryung looks..... how many deaths they want to see to be satisfied???

For me it's more of how they addressed it than anything else. Not only was it inappropriate to bring it up in front of Taemin without prior approval but there really wasn't any particular need for that anecdote other than to sensationalize what Superm were going through
The article is mainly about a SuperM concert and it seems like they just didn't get enough content and decided to through it random tidbits irrelevant to the main piece.

 

[eclipsoul]

of course i also think that mental health issues are very important subject and it needs to be talked about. but the problem here isn't the subject itself, it's the way they approached it. this was supposed to be an article about superm's concert so bringing up things like that situation is just pointless to say the least. the fact that they brought it up knowing it's difficult for taemin to talk about it is even worse.

 

[Abeamus]

While SuperMs sales were tragic, I don't see how a group can experience tragedy for something that happened before they were together, it's completely irrelevant to the subject.

 

[Belgizen]

Here I thought that the USA was "woke" and sensitive when it comes to mental health?

 

[Belgizen]

While SuperMs sales were tragic, I don't see how a group can experience tragedy for something that happened before they were together, it's completely irrelevant to the subject.

well even though the group was formed after the tragedy, they all were around that time and were all saddened by the loss of their colleague, label-mate, friend or whatever he was to them.

 

[Abeamus]

well even though the group was formed after the tragedy, they all were around that time and were all saddened by the loss of their colleague, label-mate, friend or whatever he was to them.

By that logic then Taeyeon, EXO and NCT should all get asked it too, the interviewer was only going for 1 person asking SuperM about it and that's Taemin. It's a question better for SHINee as a whole because then they can discuss how it affected them as a whole and personally while also being able to support each other in a scenario where one of them has trouble talking about it.

 

[Belgizen]

By that logic then Taeyeon, EXO and NCT should all get asked it too, the interviewer was only going for 1 person asking SuperM about it and that's Taemin. It's a question better for SHINee as a whole because then they can discuss how it affected them as a whole and personally while also being able to support each other in a scenario where one of them has trouble talking about it.

yes, that is true, but I thought you meant that the members weren't affected by it because SuperM wasn't formed at the time
It's just not a good question to ask at all.
I have the feeling that every time an article in the US gets written about kpop, they mention this to the point that it's just plain insensitive