Kpop Review

HYBE Criticized After 'Silencing' K-Media Over TWS 'Plagiarizing' BIGBANG Controversy: 'You Are Destroying Your Groups' 

Did HYBE pay Korean media outlets to delete traces of the TWS plagiarism scandal? After this move, netizens are “throwing shades” about how the label kept playing dirty tricks, ruining their artists instead.

Earlier on July 15, TWS unveiled its “Double Take” performance music video, which gained a lot of interest upon its release. As of writing, it amassed over 2.7M views, but the fandom’s delight was short-lived after the group was embroiled in a plagiarism issue.

TWS ‘DOUBLE TAKE’ MV:

[video_shortcode_youtube src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/a5guoduVEBA”]

GD&TOP ‘KNOCK OFF’ MV:

[video_shortcode_youtube src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/V4Sd2X9tpdY”]

In online communities and SNS, VIPs, the fandom of K-pop icon BIGBANG raised speculation that the MV was copied from GD&TOP’s “Knock Out” MV dropped in 2010.

While there are TWS supporters who initially defended the group and explained that it was most likely just used as a reference, BIGBANG fans insisted that the two MVs were too the same for it to be referred to as “inspiration.”

Internet users added that not only the videos were similar, but even the song lyrics & title as well as the musical beat. While the fandom clarified that they are not blaming TWS, VIPs called out HYBE, its parent company, and questioned the work of its production team.

Acknowledging the fans’ opinions and apologizing would most likely lessen the frustration of BIGBANG fans. However, HYBE only added fire and confusion once K-netz noticed that related articles to TWS plagiarism issue were all taken down.

Korean netters who saw this were appalled by HYBE’s “shameless” move and commented:

  • “No, but is HYBE really that powerful? Even other malicious rumors about celebrities don’t get deleted that easily.”
  • “Is it easy to delete an article? How much power do you have to have to control the media?”
  • “I think, they went directly to the newspaper company… If you do that, it seems like they have no choice but to erase it.”
  • “No, if you delete it like that, the suspicions will increase.”
  • “No. Why are you deleting the article instead of explaining it? Isn’t this too much?”
  • “They ignore it when artists get criticized, but when the company does something wrong and gets criticized, they deal with it faster than anyone else.”

As if trying to minimize damage, fans said that rather than that effect, their recent move affected TWS even more, as “silencing” the media is like indirectly confirming that the speculation is true.

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