This post is long overdue, but I just want to express my feelings on this whole ridiculous situation. News hit last night that 2pm member and leader Jaebom is leaving Korea and the group due to the backlash that he received from (mainly) Korean netizens about his myspace post from 2005-2007. He was born and raised in America and was picked up by JYP so he can train to be an entertainer in Korea. He was a trainee from 2005 till 2pm debuted in 2008. Korean artists have a hard life, they train 24/7 for years so that they can HOPE to debut some day. They train so hard even though stardom is not a guarantee; Jaebom and the rest of 2pm was lucky enough to debut and during the past year, they shot to stardom and is one of the most popular groups in kpop right now. However, just before their one year anniversary, Korean netizens dug up his old myspace posts from 05-07 that basically said he hated Korea (his exact words were korea is "gay") and Korean people and how he wanted to go home. At first I thought wow, this kid really needs to learn better vocab and stop trying to act like such a typical American teen but I didn't think he would actually quit the group... mainly because he had a lot of supporters in the U.S. and also Korea. Although his word choice was questionable, his feelings at the time certainly weren't.
Netizens WENT CRAZY and posted horrible things online, they went so far as to create a suicide petition; telling Jay to quit and kill himself because he will never work in Korea again. Well, it worked. They effectively killed Jaebom's hopes and dreams and forced him out of 2pm (and Korea). I was totally speechless when I first heard the news because I never thought it would escalate to this point. I'm not a huge fan of 2pm, but I do enjoy their music. I watched them debut and watched their popularity rise on music charts and also in variety shows. They really are a great group of guys that brought laughter wherever they go. Jaebom was never my favorite in the group but the way these netizens treated him just proved what he wrote was true all along; they are so quick to judge and want their idols to be perfect human beings. What really disgusts me is that these netizens want to be forgiven; so they wanted Jaebom to accept responsibility for what he wrote (and he did it with grace), now they aren't willing to accept their role in destroying his career? Karma really is a bitch!
What's done is done, 2pm definitely won't be the same, but I eagerly await the boy's comeback no matter how long it takes. A word to JYP: don't find a member to replace him, 2pm will never be whole again, but trying to patch it up would be more messy. It's a shame that all this happened before their first album is suppose to come out next month, for now, I will listen to songs from their mini albums again & again...
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