Producer Ryan Jhun Apologizes For Using Derogatory Word For Female Idols + Says He Will Take Hiatus To Self-Reflect

Producer Ryan Jhun will take a hiatus after coming under fire for using a derogatory term to refer to female idols.

Ryan Jhun had recently become the target of criticism after it was revealed that he had used a derogatory and sexually harassing term to refer to female idols on a gallery board in the online community DC Inside.

On September 12, the producer shared an apology statement on his Twitter that said that he had not known what the word meant at the time. In addition, the Naver NOW “Midnight Idol” broadcast that had been scheduled for that day was canceled.

On September 13, Xportsnews had a phone interview with the producer, who said, “We discussed things with the broadcasting people and decided to cancel. I want to take some time off to reflect on myself, and I didn’t want to cause harm to the other idols who would be appearing on the show. All the broadcasts and interviews I had scheduled were canceled so that I could take a period of self-reflection. I didn’t want to cause harm to anyone else. There are a lot of albums that have yet to be released, so I need to take some time to reflect and focus on that work.”

He continued, “I’m able to get inspiration through communicating online with people in online communities or on social media. I also like answering questions for K-pop fans who are curious about the process. Although I try to keep the focus on music, I hate it when idols are made fun of online and so I try to protect them in online spaces. If I had been the kind of person to be active on social media and in online communities just to ridicule idols, I realized I was being a deceiver.

“Nonetheless, I used that word and hurt a lot of people, and I don’t want to rationalize my mistake. I’m going to reflect on it and be much more careful about the words I use in future. During my self-reflection, I will study carefully the words I don’t know and won’t use words that are inappropriate. I will work so that this doesn’t happen again.”

He concluded, “As someone who loves K-pop, I believe it is my mission to help singers walk a good path and to assist in the growth of producers who come from difficult beginnings. I wanted to show a good image and spread a good influence. But instead, my thoughtlessness has disappointed a lot of people. I have no excuses, I’m sorry. The PR department of my agency told me the meaning of the word after the controversy occurred, and I deleted the post.”

The following is the apology Ryan Jhun posted on Twitter:

If I had intentionally used the word, knowing what it meant, you can curse at me. I didn’t know the word ‘XX.’ I’m just saying that I didn’t know it. I’m sorry if it made you feel bad. I was casually looking at my posts and thought that ‘XX’ was a word that people just used. When someone told me what it meant, I deleted it, and it wasn’t intentional. I’m not a vulgar person. In future, I’ll be more careful with my words.

If I had intended to use the word knowing what it meant, you can curse at me. I really didn’t know the controversial word. At first, I thought that people were mad at me because I had misspelled the team name. I asked about the content and it turned out that wasn’t the problem, it was the word. It’s a bad word but I really didn’t know it and I’m really sorry.

That word kept being written in the post and I didn’t know what it was, but figured that’s just how it was and used it. Just now, at dawn, our production staff searched up the meaning and told me and I was really shocked. I promise I’ll deeply reflect on it. I found the post and deleted it and I’ll be more careful about what I write.

I’ll use better words in future. There are so many weird words going around now that I made a mistake and I’m embarrassed. But people taking an interest in me and spreading the news everywhere even though they don’t know who I am and cursing out what wasn’t intentional doesn’t feel good. I’ll be more careful in future. Thank you.

Source (1) (2)