Big Bang Seungri’s Interview Stirs Controversy for Mentioning SNSD, JYJ

Big Bang’s Seungri may have taken a step too far in his recent interview with Daum’s micro-blog “Yozm.” The interview, taken place on Feb. 7th, had fans upload questions for Seungri to directly answer, and some of his responses that had real celebrity names, including SNSD and JYJ’s Joonsu, have been stirring heated debates online.

When asked which celebrities he’s friends with, Sengri specifically mentioned SNSD, but sort of put the girls in a bad light as he answered, “My celebrity friend network has grown a lot now. I was pretty close with SNSD members, but honestly we’re not on good terms anymore.^^ I won’t elaborate on it^^ Because we fought once^^.”

Seungri went on to mention KARA’s Goo Hara, F.T. Island’s Choi Jong Hoon, MBLAQ’s Thunder, Brown Eyed Girls’ Son Ga-In, and Davichi’s Kang Min Kyung as his close celebrity friends, but didn’t add any negative implications like he did with SNSD girls.

Later on, Seungri talked about his musical career and hopes of continuing to perform at theaters. When asked if there’s any shows he would like to be a part of, Seungri said he’s interested in “Jeckyll & Hyde,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Greece,” and “Mozart,” which JYJ’s Joonsu once starred in as a leading cast member. But then he added, “Originally, the main role for ‘Mozart’ was supposed to go to singer Cho Sung Mo. But then he got injured and I was first approached to play the leading role before Joonsu did. After I declined the offer, Joonsu got the role and the show became a big hit.”

These comments have lately been causing much controversy online as fans are upset over the fact that Seungri, a member of one of the most popular singing groups in Korea, was a little too rash to actually mention specific names in a media interview—especially when he’s not really complimenting them. “It was a careless decision by Seungri to actually mention all these names,” one netizen commented, as another said, “Seungri’s words are far from the truth.”

On the other hand, some fans are saying Seungri’s quotes were just taken out of context and his full interview indicates Joonsu as being a better fit to the role. In fact, Seungri did add later in the interview that, “It would have been impossible for me to fully perform the songs in the show anyway. If I had taken the role, I wouldn’t have been able to receive as much attention as Joonsu did.” Fans supporting him have voiced their opinions saying, “This shouldn’t be a controversy at all. It was just a candid, confident interview by Seungri.”

Seungri has never been the shy type to hide his true feelings and a lot of fans love him for that. But some fans blame him for crossing the line in this interview and possibly causing media speculation and baseless rumors. It’s hard to tell what Seungri’s true intentions are here, but to me it’s pretty clear that he’s not trying to defame anyone. I just wish he could elaborate a bit more on the “fight” he had with SNSD.