Hi! It’s Annie!
I think there’s a lot of rightful anger going on coming from Atiny lately. And it all has to do with the way that our boys have been treated because, we have to be honest here, they’ve been treated horribly left and right by people who should be looking out for them. It’s been exhausting to see how these amazing men who are known for being so incredibly kind have been treated by people recently at events. Thankfully, Hongjoong just announced that as of next month ATEEZ will be going on a well deserved break. They’ve been running non-stop without a breather for years now, pretty much ever since Covid, and they really do deserve to rest for a while. Everyone needs to rest at some point. But I don’t like to write posts that are just negative, so I don’t only want to talk about the bad stuff that’s happened to them recently. I also want to dedicate a portion of this post to how kind the members of ATEEZ are because I need the reminder of what they’re putting into the world when I think about people who are throwing their kindness and messages into the trash. I hope that the many Atiny who are not doing that can be there for them during this time and help them know that we’re all here to support them and carry on that kindness!
K-Con:
I think we can all agree that K-Con was nothing short of a mess this year when you exclude the artists and their amazing performances. Most people came away from K-Con with Covid, there were several serious complaints of racism against K-Con this year, and many of the fans at the event as well as some of the questions asked to the artists were completely disrespectful. Many Atiny noted early on in K-Con that Mingi was, rightfully, not having it. KQ hasn’t been treating ATEEZ the best recently scheduling wise and their schedules between K-Con and Hello82 were insane. Neither company seemed to treat ATEEZ, or many groups for that matter, with the respect they deserved. Mingi could be seen at many events casually talking to Atiny instead of participating in the crammed together games. Most of the Atiny he talked to acted very respectfully towards him, but one “fan” in particular recently became infamous among Atiny for the way she treated Mingi. At an event the members of ATEEZ went down the line granting wishes to Atiny in the audience that they chose. Mingi, naturally, chose someone who was carrying a sign that had his name on it. She promptly asked him to pass her photo card to San so that he could sign it instead. Sometimes I honestly can’t fathom the way people think about them as somehow both more and less than human at the same time. These men are incredibly over-worked human beings with real feelings! If you wouldn’t treat your closest friend that way, you shouldn’t ever consider treating them that way either. Her treatment of Mingi was horrifying and I hope that nobody ever treats him that way again or any other member of ATEEZ for that matter.
Jongho’s Health:
Jongho has been having reoccurring issues with his ankle for some time now. Apparently his ankle has been acting up more lately and was especially acting up before K-Con. I personally think that KQ should have made him perform on stage while sitting if the issues were this bad, but I was not behind the scenes so I don’t know exactly what happened here. What we do know is that after K-Con, Jongho’s ankle was discovered to be so bad that he had to be immediately flown back to South Korea where he is now about to have surgery. ATEEZ has been touring in Mexico and Brazil without him and the Atiny there have been massively supportive and loud in singing Jongho’s parts. All of this also happened in between massive incoherent and absolutely unbelievable criticisms about Jongho’s dancing skill. Jongho is one of the most amazing talents in the fourth generation, if not in K-Pop in general, and the fact he’s massively underrated saddens me. But what really makes me absolutely baffled is that anyone would go after the dance skills of anyone in ATEEZ. They were formed partially based off of their dance skills. They are known for having the most difficult choreography of any group. And it just saddens me that it took Jongho massively injuring himself for these people to quiet down and realize just how much effort he’s always been putting in. I am also so angry at KQ for over-working them to the point where one of them injured himself to this degree.
Green Flags:
One of the trends going around TikTok regarding ATEEZ recently has been the “green flags” trend and I tear up almost every time a video like this appears on my timeline. But I really do want to share some of the things that have been coming up lately, because they make me so proud to be a part of the journey with these men and really lighten my day. They give me hope that nice people really are out there! A woman who worked on staff with ATEEZ during a video call talked about her interactions with Yunho and San. When she was having trouble with the technology, something we can all relate to, and started praying that the connection would go through, Yunho laughed and prayed with her. He also gave her words of encouragement that were then echoed by San who was next in line. She said that she had been considering quitting her line of work before this and that their moments of humanity and empathy towards her made her reconsider. Hongjoong has been well known for supporting the LGBTQ+ community and talked about how if he ever came out with a clothing line, he would want to have gender neutral clothing for everyone to express themselves. He’s also thanked their staff very genuinely many times including shedding tears on stage for how hard their staff works. ATEEZ are known for being respectful to staff. Even people who have worked minimum wage at conventions have had stories of ATEEZ bowing to them just walking in the hallways and thanking them for their help. Seonghwa went viral not too long ago for his emotional and respectful reaction to a fan letter that a mother read to him for her daughter. When covering songs, Hongjoong has taken out words or phrases that objectify women as well as racial slurs. San recently became angry at a story of a husband throwing away all of his wife’s memorabilia without her permission. All of these small stories just scratch the surface of what staff have said about them and what we’ve seen of them. We’ve visually seen many members of ATEEZ helps fans calm down from panic attacks or talk with fans like they just value and want the connection, like Mingi recently. I’m sure I’m missing things and I definitely wish I had more stories about more specific members, but these are just the ones that have showed up on my timeline. We all know that all of these boys are national treasures with the kindest hearts. I mean, we all remember Jongho carefully handing out flowers to Atiny with the biggest smile rather than throwing them. Or Yeosang turning his personal fan towards an overheated fan without realizing there was glass in the way. Or Wooyoung helping a delivery driver pick up a bunch of boxes he had dropped. We’ve seen them give their chairs to fans who were being made to sit on crates (looking at you again Hello82) and carry heavy equipment for staff. I am always so grateful to ult one of the groups in K-Pop who have one of the biggest reputations for being kind. I just hope that we give them back some of the kindness and that the bad stuff isn’t all they see right now.
I am so grateful to have these men in my life. They have helped me through so much and I hope that I give them back just a little bit of the support that they’ve already given me. Which means that it is that much more horrifying when I see people treating them the way they have been treated recently. What I want most right now is for Jongho to heal quickly and for that break to last for at least a couple months. They deserve all the rest! Though I know they’ve talked about how difficult it can be to let themselves rest sometimes. But I hope they know that we’ll all be here when they get back!
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 