2NE1’s Sandara Park has faced intense criticism after revealing she once dated a minor after lying about her age, leading to the removal of the video and legal threats from her production team.
The controversy stems from a May 2024 YouTube video where Park, alongside her bandmate Minzy, went on a trip to the Philippines. Park recounted an incident from her pre-debut days, saying, “A guy approached me and asked for my number” and “I gave him my number because he was so cute. But then he said he was 14.”
Park continued, “I was 19 at the time and about to debut,” and admitted, “I lied. I told him I was 16 and we went on several dates.” She elaborated, “We played whack-a-mole, basketball games, and watched movies. Then suddenly I debuted (with 2NE1) and my real age was revealed on TV.” Minzy responded by calling the story “cute.”
“I never contacted him after that,” Park added, to which Minzy remarked, “That guy got scammed,” while laughing.
The revelation sparked outrage on Reddit, particularly among Western users sensitive to issues involving minors. One user wrote, “I don’t view Sandara Park as predatory. However, this incident is very questionable and shouldn’t be normalized,” adding, “While a five-year age gap might be insignificant at certain life stages, we can’t overlook how significant it can be at specific ages.”
Another user commented, “This is creepy regardless of when it happened” and “It’s incomprehensible that she had this mindset at 19, and it’s even more disgusting that Minzy responded by calling it ‘cute.’ It’s just disgusting.”
“While there are unfair double standards against women (especially in Korea), this might be the opposite globally,” another user noted, “because people tend to take sexual offenses or similar issues less seriously when the perpetrator is female.”
The production team appears to have acknowledged the controversy, removing and re-uploading an edited version of the video along with a statement: “We have re-edited portions of the video content that could be misinterpreted depending on cultural context” and warned, “Please refrain from making unfounded speculations and malicious comments about the artist. We will take firm legal action against all acts of defamation.”
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