Actor Kim Ki Bum, a former member of the SM Entertainment boy group Super Junior, revealed the actual reason why he left the group. Keep on reading to learn more.
On Wednesday, Jan. 20, Kim Heechul appeared on Kim Ki Bum's YouTube channel, "Yangban Kim Ki Bum". In the YouTube video, the two are seen eating and chatting over a can of beer. The video is titled "I Will Come Clean About It _ What Happened Back Then?!" There, they discuss their past as members of Super Junior.
In the video, Kim Heechul recalls how Kim Ki Bum had appeared on "Current Status Olympics," a show about stars from the past and that he received numerous love calls from other shows. When he got those calls, he would call Heechul and tell him about the type of questions they wanted to ask and wondered what to do.
Heechul was understanding, saying that he was a member of Super Junior and the writers of the show would naturally ask about his time in the group. Heechul knows that Ki Bum is not the type to use Super Junior's name and would ultimately turn down appearing on the shows out of respect for the team.
Heechul then asked Kim Ki Bum for his thoughts about the team, Super Junior. He thinks of them as a team he spent his trainee years with and recalls how Super Junior was planned to be a rotational unit, similar to NCT. The two then recalled how they both had planned to leave Super Junior after 2005, but the group ended up becoming so successful that they continued until 2006.
Heechul recalls how nervous Kim Ki Bum would be during recordings and that he would even practice with a ballpen in his mouth. They revealed that Kim Ki Bum was so embarrassed with his voice, he had felt like he was dying from embarrassment. He ended up asking for his parts to be removed from songs, which is what SM Entertainment ended up doing later on.
Kim Heechul then pretended to be an interview for a show, because he believed Ki Bum would have to talk about his past as a Super Junior member one day. He then proposed the question, "Why did you leave Super Junior? Were you bullied by the members?" Kim Ki Bum then answered, saying that he volunteered himself and said that he would be leaving the group. "I just want to focus on acting," Ki Bum said.
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When asked if the members are good or bad, Ki Bum cheekily replied, "Some are good, some are bad." As the members had been together since they were young, Heechul recalls them fighting a lot, but overall, they were friends and a team.
In 2009, Kim Ki Bum was absent from the "Sorry, Sorry" promotions. At the time, SM Entertainment announced that he was still a member of the group, but was busy with drama filmings and preparing for a musical. However, he never participated in a Super Junior comeback since then.
In 2015, Ki Bum announced on his personal social media accounts that his contract with SM Entertainment expired and he had chosen not to resign, effectively announcing his withdrawal from Super Junior.
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Written by Alexa Lewis