On March 21, Pledis Entertainment released a new statement giving an update about the investigation into rumors stating that SEVENTEEN Mingyu was a perpetrator of school bullying.
Over the past month, several anonymous users made a post online where they claimed to be former classmates of SEVENTEEN Mingyu and accused him of being a bully, including a person with disabilities, which Pledis Entertainment denied. The "Mansae" singer was also embroiled in sexual harassment allegations.
Following several accusations made against SEVENTEEN Mingyu, Pledis Entertainment announced that the rapper will be halting activities while the company investigates the matters.
On March 12, the agency issued an update reaffirming that Mingyu had not done any bullying and that misunderstandings between him and the accuser had been settled after face-to-face discussions.
And now, Pledis Entertainment has released additional information on what they were able to confirm about bullying rumors concerning SEVENTEEN Mingyu.
Pledis Entertainment Releases Further Update Regarding SEVENTEEN Mingyu's Bullying Rumors
In their recent official statement, the label mentioned they reached out to the person who asserted that they witnessed Mingyu laughing while one of their middle school classmates was being assaulted. Although the accuser wrote the post as if they were a witness, the poster was confirmed to be the victim of the incident.
Pledis then stated that they listened to the poster's account of events and also gathered the facts with the people who were involved in the matter, together with testimonies sent to the agency by graduates of the school.
The company went on to say that SEVENTEEN Mingyu stated that he couldn't recall the situation described by the accuser and that he had never encouraged assault against another student by watching, laughing, and making harsh remarks.
Next, Pledis Entertainment contacted the alleged perpetrator's name by the poster, as well as the students who were presumed to have witnessed the incident. Upon checking with them, none of them were able to remember that situation happening in the past.
The poster then got in touch with a friend who was present at that time of bullying, but the friend responded that they were unable to recall the event as well.
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Since no one couldn't confirm that incident taking place in the past, the poster informed the agency that they wish to not continue the issue anymore.
To this, Pledis Entertainment commented, "We are deeply concerned that this kind of claim was published online based only on a certain individual's memory, and that the matter is coming to an end because the recollections of the event turned out to be uncertain.
While the company is glad that this bullying rumor and all of the other previous claims were proven to have no relation to SEVENTEEN Mingyu, Pledis stated that numerous people have suffered because of the accusations and that responding to the issues took lots of time and effort.
Pledis Entertainment then revealed that that the poster did experience bullying during their student life, and so the label will be concluding the matter without taking further action.
As of now, the agency has wrapped up all discussions and contact with those people involved, although they will be providing further updates if any additional information arises.
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Written by Mhaliya Scott
