We get it that people might not like a certain idol group, no matter how popular they may be. Yet, there is always a boundary between personal opinions and harassment, such boundary that EXO’s anti-fans seem to have crossed.

Recently, it was discovered that EXO was being slandered by an organized group of anti-fans. A report by local news source Sports World on the anti-fans uncovered that an EXO anti-café called Ga Mang So seemed to not understand that certain boundaries exist when disliking a certain group or entity. Ga Mang So, which is short for Gayogyeh Manghaneun Sori (translated to ‘Sound of Music Industry Failing’), posted on their official notice, “Our café is to settle the feelings of anti-members, thus we do not hesitate to criticize EXO’s dumb fans and their family.”

Within the posts that the anti-café members posted, it was common to see EXO members’ images edited on to portraits of the deceased; in Korea, these portraits are carried through a funeral procession, indicating the death of the person. Personal attacks and defamation of the members were also prevalent throughout the anti-café.

Furthermore, last year, EXO was thrown into a controversy regarding their military service. It had been reported that EXO fans had started petitioning to have the group’s members be exempt from their military service (which all able Korean men must serve). It seemed that the group’s fans had even inflicted injury upon themselves in order to petition. However, an anti-fan’s post that read, “I photoshopped the image of EXO fans hurting themselves. It looks real right? It seems to have already gotten tens of thousands of views on another site, so it’s just a matter of time until it spreads. Compliment me,” indicated that the whole ordeal was actually started by none other than EXO’s anti-fans.

The anti-café of EXO once again reminds us that in the Korean industry, fame comes with severe haters who do not seem to understand the severity of their actions. We hope that K-Pop could be filled with helpful criticism instead of pure contempt that concludes to dangerous actions.

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