HYBE Apologizes Over Underwear Search at &TEAM's Fansign + Knetz React

On the 8th, &TEAM held a fan signing event for their second mini-album "First Howling: WE" to meet and communicate with fans in person.

However, after the fan signing event, an article titled "HYBE examined underwear at the fan signing event" was posted on social media and online communities, and several fans complained, saying, "The staff touched my chest.", "They made me pull up my shirt to expose my bra", "They sexually harrassmed me", and more.

On July 10th, Weverse Shop uploaded a statement apologizing over the security's actions saying:

"Hello, this is Weverse Shop.

We would like to apologize to the fans who attended &TEAM’s in-person fan signing event on July 8 regarding the security body check that was carried out by female security guards.

Fan signing events are a place where artists and fans talk one-on-one, and if recordings are leaked to the public, it might not be good for the fan and the artist. So to prevent such a situation from arising, we have always strictly limited [fans from] bringing in electronic equipment that makes recording possible. Up until now, many fans have actively cooperated with this practice.

However, because there have been several instances of [fans] hiding electronic equipment on their bodies to bring them in, a body check was carried out on July 8 by female security guards to check for this. We apologize to the fans who attended the event with happy hearts for making you uncomfortable.

Even if it was a security issue, we are aware that it is not an acceptable excuse for making fans uncomfortable. We sincerely apologize that this kind of incident happened at the event.

We will make plans for improvements, such as introducing contact-free methods for security checks, and we will try to make it possible for fans to participate in fan signing events with artists in a more comfortable and happy environment.

Thank you."

Koreans reacted to the apology saying:

• What kind of great conversation do you have at the fan signing event? For security reasons? Are you having a summit?
• It's not the first thing to warn artists not to say anything that might be difficult if leaked..Hah!
• Ah, the word "artist" is so funny
• ㅋㅋㅋㄱㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
• ㅋㅋㅋㄱㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄱㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋSo funny
• a female security guardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
• Are there any high-ranking officials from the country coming?
• Why can't they say it's sexual harassment
• an apology and the rest of the excuses
• That's how you cover up your sexual harassment
• What's the problem with the recordings being leaked to the outside world?
• What kind of international conference is this is?
• ?
• Don't you have money to buy a metal detector? It is sexual harassment
• 22
• It's not a body check, it's a sexual harassment
• Security body checkㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That's what they call sexual harassment
• What, reallyㅋㅋㅋ

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