JYP Entertainment is forming a Japanese girl group through a survival show called ‘Nizi Project’, and on the latest episode contestant Ikematsu Riria (17) found herself being critiqued by JYP himself. That’s not a problem, but what made people mad was his advice to her about her weight.

TW: Weight



Nizi Project Auditions; 17 year old Ikematsu Riria was criticized by JYP for her weight. Telling her that she lacks “self-care” and needs to get better at “weight management”.



Even saying she isnt serious about being an idol because she can’t control her weight. pic.twitter.com/CDrfEQzTyp — SAVE JYP GROUPS (@jypewhy) March 9, 2020

While probably nicer than what netizens would say, people were understandably less than pleased with JYP over this, especially when in later episodes he talks about how those sacrifices might mean eating a meal a day.

Note: It’s said under the guise of making her dance better, and while many others have pointed out that’s not even necessarily true, it also is just absolutely not primarily about dance.

While I’d like healthier practices that involve methods other than starvation, it’s hard to be surprised by this comment, as people have said over and over that this is what the industry does. Hell, TWICE’s Momo said publicly on stream that she was subjected to worse.

This is for sure an industry and standards issue rather than a JYP specific thing, though (among other things) it should disabuse people who stan his company as anything other than arguably marginally better than the terrible industry standard.

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Not sure this is necessarily the best post to ask on, but how is Nizi Project for those watching? I’ve heard about it and I assume it’ll go well, but I haven’t actually seen anything from it at all yet except this.

Also unrelated … JYP speaks Japanese?