A recent controversy surrounding Jessi, the famous Korean-American rapper, has stirred up heated discussions online. On October 11, reports emerged from JTBC’s Crime Chief about an incident involving Jessi and a fan who claimed to have been assaulted by one of her acquaintances in late September.
What Happened?
According to the report, the fan approached Jessi in an alley in Apgujeong, Seoul, early in the morning on September 29, asking for an autograph and a photo. Jessi, though initially polite, declined the request, and things took a sudden turn when one of her entourage members verbally confronted the fan. Moments later, another man attacked the fan, hitting and kicking him without any apparent provocation.
Surveillance footage from the scene shows Jessi stepping in initially, seemingly attempting to de-escalate the situation. However, as the attack escalated, she stepped back and eventually left the scene. Her entourage is seen pulling the attacker away, but Jessi’s departure has caused much of the public outrage.
The fan, later identified as an 18-year-old minor, expressed his disappointment, stating, “I admired her as a celebrity, but after this, I lost a lot of respect.”
Investigation and Jessi’s Response
The police responded to the fan’s report and later located Jessi and her group at a nearby bar, though the attacker was no longer present. Jessi and her team claimed not to know the man’s whereabouts. Her agency later clarified that the attacker wasn’t directly associated with Jessi but was a Chinese acquaintance of a producer who was with her that night. Despite this, the victim’s mother visited Jessi’s agency to express her frustration, as the attacker remained unidentified for over ten days.
A producer connected to Jessi’s group later sent a message to the victim, stating that Jessi had no involvement with the attacker. Jessi’s agency also addressed the situation, saying, “Jessi had no involvement in the assault. She only met the attacker that night for the first time.”
Mixed Reactions from Netizens’
The incident has drawn significant reactions from Korean netizens, with many expressing disappointment in Jessi’s handling of the situation. Here are some of the comments:
- “I’m disappointed in Jessi too.”
- “How can she just walk away like that?”
- “Strictly put, Jessi didn’t really do anything wrong. But she should offer an apology to her fan.”
- “What’s with her just running away from the scene while her fan was being assaulted?”
- “She neglected her fan being assaulted. That’s really a turn-off. Even another female friend tried to stop it, but Jessi couldn’t?”
- “She should’ve tried to stop that guy hitting her fan.”
- “The man who assaulted is the main problem, but Jessi just left after seeing her own fan getting assaulted right in front of her?”
- “Someone in her own group assaulted someone right in front of her, and she just left?”
- “If you see a stranger getting beaten on the street, at the very least, you’d call the police. But someone came up to her as a fan, got beaten, and she just went off to drink?”
- “What’s up with Jessi? Not only did she leave the scene, but when the victim and police came looking for her, why didn’t she cooperate? Even if she just met the assailants that day, there’s still a process of how she ended up with them. She should’ve told the police that they were acquaintances of the producer. Why did she hide that and cover for them? At this point, Jessi is an accomplice to the assault.”
- “Her student (aged) fan was assaulted by someone in her group, and she just left without reporting it and went back to drinking? And she didn’t even cooperate in catching the assailant? Wow, what kind of personality is that?”
- “Jessi may not be directly at fault, but her fan was assaulted by her group for no reason, and instead of checking if the fan was okay, she just left quietly to avoid getting involved and went back to drinking. It’s understandable why people are disappointed.”
- “What? It wasn’t even a confrontation; the fan was assaulted out of nowhere! Even if the assailant wasn’t her personal friend, they were still in her group. She should’ve intervened or at least helped afterwards. How can she just leave to go drink? And on top of that, she didn’t even help catch the attacker? This is unbelievable.”
While some netizens were critical of Jessi, others noted that the real issue was the man who committed the assault, and the attention should be on him rather than Jessi’s actions:
- “The biggest problem is the guy who hit the fan, but she just watched and then walked away.”
- “I was never interested in Jessi, but does she deserve to be slandered more than the perpetrator who actually hit her fan?”
Ongoing Investigation
The Gangnam Police are currently leading the investigation and have summoned the producer who was with Jessi for questioning. It remains to be seen how the situation will develop, but the backlash online continues, with fans and netizens debating Jessi’s role in the incident.
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