ZEROBASEONE member Ricky was recently struck in the face by a phone during a chaotic mobbing incident at an airport in China, leading some fans to express concern.
The incident occurred on Thursday when Ricky traveled to Shanghai, China, for a personal schedule.
The K-pop idol was seen arriving at the airport, where a mob of fans met him. Some appeared to try to get inside Ricky's vehicle, while others were filming him even while he was struggling to move through the crowd.
During the incident, one fan's phone got extremely close to the idol's face and ended up hitting him in the head.
"Next time, please increase security for Ricky if he gets a solo job in China. Look at this. Ricky's face got hit by a fan's phone; there's really no distance between them; it's like he's being trapped in zombie apocalypse," one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter), accompanying the post with a screenshot showing the incident.
Next time please increase security for Ricky if he gets solo job in China, look at this Ricky's face got hit by a fan's phone, there's really no distance between them, it's like he's being trapped in zombie apocalypse@wakeone_offcl@ZB1staff@yhent_korea pic.twitter.com/CWgDd7rwk1
— 🅽🅸🅲🅺🆈 #WAKEONEANTI (@forrickyshen) February 13, 2025
Ricky appeared to have been uninjured and later hosted a livestream chat on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
Fans have since called out his agency, WAKEONE Entertainment, for poor management of its artists. Some were also angered about Ricky's sparse security detail, which allegedly only included two bodyguards and one staff member.
Apart from the mobbing incident at the airport, Ricky was also seen riding the subway, accompanied by only one staff member, and swarms of fans followed him after he exited the train.
This was not the first time Ricky or other ZEROBASEONE members fell victim to mobbing. Last October, Ricky and his fellow members were spotted having dinner together at a restaurant when a crowd of fans gathered outside.
They were later harshly mobbed by the crowd. There were also reports of fans waiting outside the restroom for ZEROBASEONE members.
ZEROBASEONE is a South Korean boy group that was formed through Mnet's reality competition show "Boys Planet." The group, which consists of nine members, debuted in July 2023.
