Super Junior Heechul Fat-Shamed Kep1er Chaehyun? ELFs Defend Male Idol

Super Junior Heechul is in hot water after allegedly body-shaming Kep1er Chaehyun. ELFs were quick to defend the idol, and revealed what really happened.

On December 27, the YouTube web show, "KebyKe Restaurant," invited Super Junior Heechul as their special guest, hosted by comedian Lee Soo Ji along with Kep1er Chaehyun, Mashiro, and Xiaoting.

While viewers were fascinated by the fun and rare interactions between the senior and his junior idols, there was a certain part of the show that didn't sit well with fans.

Super Junior Heechul, Kep1er Chaehyun Open Up on Idol's Body Weight Standard

This is during Heechul and Chaehyun's conversation about the idol's weight, leading some netizens to accuse the male idol of fat-shaming Chaehyun.

During the episode, Heechul sympathized with his female junior idols and asked:

"Why do people (idols) get in trouble these days?"

Chaehyun didn't think twice and replied:

"For not losing weight."

Lee Soo Ji was perplexed and shouted:

"For not losing weight? Then I'll never get to practice."

Chaehyun then continued:

"The first digit of my weight was 3."

Surprising Soo Ji once again, she jokingly pointed out that it was her weight when she was in 3rd grade. Heechul then added that it could actually "k*ll" people (maintaining that weight for her age).

Chaehyun nodded:

"It's just skin and bone."

When Lee Soo Ji asked if that would even look good at the camera, Chaehyun agreed and looked back on her skinny days when she was a trainee, apparently when she was still in SM Entertainment, the agency to which Heechul belongs.

"I was really skinny when I was a trainee."

When Soo Ji defended her that she was still skinny even until now, Heechul then clarified what Chaehyun meant by saying:

"That's not true. I was an idol. She's very skinny, but when she's with other idols, she doesn't look skinny. And idols get criticized whether they gain or lose weight."

Heechul Accused of Fat-Shaming Chaehyun, ELFs Defend Him

When the episode was aired, this certain part of the show became a hot topic among K-pop fans.

On X, Heechul was especially criticized and received maliciously written comments for allegedly body-shaming Chaehyun. People claimed that he indirectly said the female idol looks "fatter" compared to other idols.

However, ELFs were quick to jump to Heechul's defense and emphasized that his haters intentionally posted a screenshot of the idol talking about Chaehyun's weight, without the full context to frame him as being a body shamer.

In fact, looking at the full video, Chaehyun didn't feel offended as well as the talk's atmosphere was light and good among them.

Also, the problem seemed to start with the official English translation of the show, wherein fans stated that there are some mistranslated words from the idol, such as when he said "that's not true," instead of "that's not it/it's not like that."

What are your thoughts on this?

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Written by Eunice Dawson.