K-pop’s shocking Instagram backlash: 8 idols who got flack for their photos, from BTS’ V and Blackpink’s Jennie and Jisoo, to Twice’s Sana and Exo’s Xiumin

Dec 15 , 2021

Blackpink’s Jisoo, BTS’ V and Twice’s Sana all got hate for their Instagram photos. Photos: @sooyaaa__; @twicetagram/Instagram, @BTS_twt/Twitter

V accidentally following Jennie caused a furore, Jisoo was blasted for her iPhone use after the group’s Samsung endorsement, and Apink’s Naeun came under fire for feminism

Sana received discriminatory criticism for a post about her home country of Japan while Ximin and Vixx’s Leo got homophobic comments for an affectionate photo

Now that BTS has officially climbed onto the Insta bandwagon, joining their fellow idols on the social media site by creating individual personal accounts on December 6, fans were quick to follow the boys in their posting adventures. They amassed 10 million followers in no time, according to Pink Villa.

But what started off as a happy occasion soon ended up with scowls when BTS’ V accidentally followed Blackpink’s Jennie. He took to Weverse to explain: Jennie appeared in his list of recommended accounts, and he clicked the “follow” button by mistake, reported Pink Villa. But he didn’t unfollow her quickly enough to escape the notice of eagle-eyed fans.

BTS member V’s accidental Instagram follow of Blackpink’s Jennie caused a fan furore. Photos: @BTS_twt/Twitter, @jennierubyjane/Instagram

Jennie ended up getting flooded with hateful comments like “leave V alone”, reported AllKpop, while V came under scrutiny too. The scandal lead to a fan war between Army and Blinks – BTS’ and Blackpink’s fans – as they rushed to defend their favourite stars.

While this reaction might seem excessive for an honest, harmless mistake, K-idols always have to be extra careful about what they post, as K-pop fandom can be very sensitive.

V and Jennie weren’t the first to suffer either. Here are five other idols who faced public hate for their Instagram posts.

Naeun of Apink’s casual restaurant picture

Apink’s Naeun. Photo: @marcellasne_/Instagram

In 2018, Son Na-eun, aka Naeun, hardly suspected that she would get chewed out after sharing a casual picture of herself sitting in a restaurant with a cup of coffee and a dessert, holding her phone in her hand.

She captioned the post “Girls can do anything”, which was the same line on the back of her phone case in the image.

According to AllKpop, the unassuming picture received shocking hate from netizens – as they believed Naeun was encouraging feminism, so they dissed her for the act. Koreaboo stated that Naeun’s post was met with hostile comments, with people even swearing at her.