How Song Ji-a’s career crumbled in days: the Single’s Inferno star was cut off by friends, edited out of variety shows and she deleted all her Instagram posts following fake luxury fashion furore
![One moment, Song Ji-a was a rising star, but buying the wrong sort of ‘luxury’ goods has landed her in a whole lot of trouble. Photo: @dear.zia/Instagram](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/768x768/public/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/26/e8b0fd73-d230-4b6f-ae7f-05bf444452b4_fcf81aea.jpg?itok=EhDBhiuC&v=1643192840)
- The Korean influencer’s popularity soared to over 4 million Instagram fans after appearing in Netflix’s hit dating show … and then she was exposed for buying fake luxury brands
- Song Ji-a’s co-star Kim Hyun-joong and her bestie Kang Ye-won have distanced themselves, plus her scenes on MBC’s variety show The Manager are being edited out
![Song Ji-a in Single’s Inferno, wearing a top later revealed to be fake. Photo: Netflix Song Ji-a in Single’s Inferno, wearing a top later revealed to be fake. Photo: Netflix](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/26/620430d9-57d6-4ba4-b83a-ee905204c098_53933fe2.jpg)
So what exactly has happened since that fashion controversy?
She’s deleted all her social media posts
![She initially deleted all her posts that contained apparently counterfeit items. Photo: @dear.zia/Instagram She initially deleted all her posts that contained apparently counterfeit items. Photo: @dear.zia/Instagram](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/26/7568c928-669f-45be-9640-54d18492cdfd_5b4ae38d.jpg)
The video already has over three million views at the time of writing, though, like her Instagram post, comments have been turned off. She announced she’ll be stepping away from social media to take time to “continuously reflect on my actions”.
There was an attempt at an explanation
![Her agency released a statement to explain her purchases. Photo: @dear.zia/Instagram Her agency released a statement to explain her purchases. Photo: @dear.zia/Instagram](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/26/907ca7fb-fad8-4e6f-bcdc-31de81bc2b86_3231c0e0.jpg)
When the controversy first broke out, Song’s management agency, Hyowon CNC, released an apology and later explained why she bought the counterfeit goods featured on her Free Zia YouTube channel. The statement said: “It’s all our fault. It’s the company’s responsibility to check the creator’s styling but we thought that respecting Free Zia’s own styling was a way to communicate with the subscribers on a more intimate level.”
![Her agency claimed that the influencer wasn’t aware the luxury items were fake. Photo: @deuxreasons/Twitter Her agency claimed that the influencer wasn’t aware the luxury items were fake. Photo: @deuxreasons/Twitter](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/26/208a2417-bb9a-45b4-a536-3501c6080c8e_6000aa26.jpg)
Later, CEO Kim Hyo-jin stated in an interview that when Song was asked where the items were bought, she explained that she bought them at street stalls because she thought they were pretty. According to Kim, Song wasn’t aware the items were fake, and that she never intended to “look rich”.