I read the translation of the school document, one thing is for sure, I am def not on the said "victim's" side at all anymore. The official document mentioned the "victim" posted a pic of a minor/garam's friend in undergarments.

as if Garam didn't have HYBE's legal counsel representing her until the company dumped her.

This is why I never take sides on these type of controversies and always give the idol the benefit of the doubt

I just hope people who go with "always belive the victim" finally understand that's not the correct way to handle these situations. Especially because this is the third time now a bullying scandal has ended up with the wrong person getting attacked.

She yelled at another Student in anger, she claims it is Justified the other party does not

This is amongst the most Blown out of Proportion things I have ever witnessed online

also, certain people are going to use this as a way to attack LeSserafim and maybe even NewJeans, know that they are not doing it because they genuinely care about Garam, they already hated the Group/Company probably for being competition to their Favs and will use this as a way to try to slander them and make them less popular

Hybe really dropped the ball on this one. They handled it terribly. In the end they probably thought only about losing money and fired her. Terrible company, but what's new...

Quote from common-nobody

This is why I never take sides on these type of controversies and always give the idol the benefit of the doubt

I never take sides / give the idol the benefit of the doubt

That not contradictory?

Quote from Derpcatcher

I never take sides / give the idol the benefit of the doubt

That not contradictory?

Oh I worded it wrong sorry, I meant that I believe there's always a 50/50 chance the idol is innocent or guilty There's no guarantee until there's solid proof or legal action

so we rewriting history now

we gonna pretend that garam was never being protected by a multi-billion dollar company at one point that was sueing everyone..? regardless of how badly HYBE handled this they were still taking action against the hate comments and false rumors towards her

hybe really messed up not only her but the other girls' images as well

Quote from Rednas

Hybe really dropped the ball on this one. They handled it terribly. In the end they probably thought only about losing money and fired her. Terrible company, but what's new...

i mean, was having her stay in the group while her image was unsalvageable and being subjected to straight up bullying from the public a better option? i think sources initial response was a bit too damage control and didn't provide enough info, but the fact is they handled it the way people WANT companies to handle "smear campaigns". get the idol's side, release a clarifying statement, legal action. despite that the situation got worse and worse and every further action taken by source was met with backlash. really the fault falls on the public for being unrelenting in a situation that from day1 contained so much misinformation it was hard to tell what the accusations were actually even about

Imagine having a rich bully go after you who also happens to be suicidal so you really can't fight back. Eunseo had Garam in checkmate from the start.

Quote from aclassyteaparty

i mean, was having her stay in the group while her image was unsalvageable and being subjected to straight up bullying from the public a better option? i think sources initial response was a bit too damage control and didn't provide enough info, but the fact is they handled it the way people WANT companies to handle "smear campaigns". get the idol's side, release a clarifying statement, legal action. despite that the situation got worse and worse and every further action taken by source was met with backlash. really the fault falls on the public for being unrelenting in a situation that from day1 contained so much misinformation it was hard to tell what the accusations were actually even about

no they handled it badly by insisting that Garam was the victim from the start when there existed an actual level 5 document implying otherwise ... even other accused bullies that all we had was victims statements resulted in the companies releasing an apology immediately or stopping the idols activities (e.g hyunjin) whilst the company investigated. HYBE on the other hand had her participating in group activities for 2 weeks when the accusations started from pre debut teasers.... they had this girl in the publics eye open for any nitpicking and abuse from online communities regardless of whether she is innocent or not which is wrong imo.

Thread

[MEGATHREAD] GARAM'S SCANDAL: Facts and updates in OP. Post here.

PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE:
POST THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE GARAM BULLYING SCANDAL HERE.

If a new thread is made, it will get merged.

Mention me, @Ibby, @superyeah, @ZestyMochi or @fortunato update the OP with new info.

TW// for the entire thread:
Talk of physical violence, potential indecent photography involving a minor and suicide.

TIMELINE OF CURRENT EVENTS:

• Bullying allegations released by several anonymous parties.
• [SOURCE: Victim's counsel] Garam fans discover the identity of the

…

Ves

May 15th 2022

this was HYBEs first statement:

Hello.

This is HYBE.

Since yesterday when the online rumors surrounding Kim Garam were first raised, HYBE has made efforts to confirm the facts. After a thorough search, we have discovered that:

- The accusations revolved around instances during the beginning of Kim Garam's middle school days, when she was just getting to know her classmates, and such instances were edited with malicious intent to problematize past events,

- A third party has confirmed that Kim Garam was in fact not a school bully, but a victim of various malicious rumors and cyber bullying during her middle school days.

- Furthermore, the rumors that Kim Garam was a trainee at a different agency, or rumors that inside documents from HYBE Labels have been leaked, are entirely false.

We believe that a large number of these accusations have been raised to slander our artist, who will be making her debut soon, and Source Music has begun procedures to move forward with strict legal action against any who spread one-sided, exaggerated rumors or false content regarding our artist."

CR: Allkpop

- All insisting she is a victim which just led to the response being much worse when the school violence document was leaked.

Quote from bobsyouruncle

no they handled it badly by insisting that Garam was the victim from the start when there existed an actual level 5 document implying otherwise ... even other accused bullies that all we had was victims statements resulted in the companies releasing an apology immediately or stopping the idols activities (e.g hyunjin) whilst the company investigated. HYBE on the other hand had her participating in group activities for 2 weeks when the accusations started from pre debut teasers.... they had this girl in the publics eye open for any nitpicking and abuse from online communities regardless of whether she is innocent or not which is wrong imo.

i have seen clarifications and debunking of the severity of a "level 5" multiple times. and looking at the actual claimed story from garam's side, i can see why they were insistent on protecting her. all im saying is the actions they took are what people want from companies. if they really thought she did nothing wrong why tf would they pull her from activities? its sad it ended this way honestly and full truth of the matter is still not revealed so.

Quote from Bananapple

And it didn't doing her any favor. They didn't released the evidences earlier while the said victim released the bias part of the documents. And the said victim that said they will released the full doc never did that, why? As all the evidences just turn back to Eunseo as the bully not Garam. As I said, the said victim didn't come from ordinary family background, heck the minister even talk about this. Who knows what they doing behind the close curtain? And second Garam reputation is never able to recover especially in Korea which why they kick her out. Lesserafim just freshly debuted and will doing another cb and garam issues would not help them.

HYBE represented Garam until they found it no longer feasible or desirable. As for the minister of education talking about the case...of course he had too, all the reporters were asking him questions about it.

Quote from aclassyteaparty

i have seen clarifications and debunking of the severity of a "level 5" multiple times. and looking at the actual claimed story from garam's side, i can see why they were insistent on protecting her. all im saying is the actions they took are what people want from companies. if they really thought she did nothing wrong why tf would they pull her from activities? its sad it ended this way honestly and full truth of the matter is still not revealed so.

you've seen "clarifications and debunking" of level 5 severity but doesn't change the fact that its tangible proof that something occurred which is much more then most bullying accusations have ever had and was enough for k-fans to immediately cancel her and for it to make national news there .

idk i'm confused too why they pulled her out after how hard they were going for her but it looks like they judged the negatives to outweigh the benefits.. and judging from how well received OT5 performances were then I don't think they made the wrong decision from a business standpoint tbh. I don't think we learned anything new from garams instagram post either.. all the information she gave us HYBE already did but because of how they handled it (their inconsistency with claiming she was a victim then saying she did get into an arguement) people took their words with a grain of salt or undermined them so it's not like garams side wasn't out there

Quote from 0ppar

HYBE represented Garam until they found it no longer feasible or desirable. As for the minister of education talking about the case...of course he had too, all the reporters were asking him questions about it.

people forgetting she made national news there lol

Quote from bobsyouruncle

no they handled it badly by insisting that Garam was the victim from the start when there existed an actual level 5 document implying otherwise ... even other accused bullies that all we had was victims statements resulted in the companies releasing an apology immediately or stopping the idols activities (e.g hyunjin) whilst the company investigated. HYBE on the other hand had her participating in group activities for 2 weeks when the accusations started from pre debut teasers.... they had this girl in the publics eye open for any nitpicking and abuse from online communities regardless of whether she is innocent or not which is wrong imo.

Thread

[MEGATHREAD] GARAM'S SCANDAL: Facts and updates in OP. Post here.

PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE:
POST THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE GARAM BULLYING SCANDAL HERE.

If a new thread is made, it will get merged.

Mention me, @Ibby, @superyeah, @ZestyMochi or @fortunato update the OP with new info.

TW// for the entire thread:
Talk of physical violence, potential indecent photography involving a minor and suicide.

TIMELINE OF CURRENT EVENTS:

• Bullying allegations released by several anonymous parties.
• [SOURCE: Victim's counsel] Garam fans discover the identity of the

…

Ves

May 15th 2022

this was HYBEs first statement:

Hello.

This is HYBE.

Since yesterday when the online rumors surrounding Kim Garam were first raised, HYBE has made efforts to confirm the facts. After a thorough search, we have discovered that:

- The accusations revolved around instances during the beginning of Kim Garam's middle school days, when she was just getting to know her classmates, and such instances were edited with malicious intent to problematize past events,

- A third party has confirmed that Kim Garam was in fact not a school bully, but a victim of various malicious rumors and cyber bullying during her middle school days.

- Furthermore, the rumors that Kim Garam was a trainee at a different agency, or rumors that inside documents from HYBE Labels have been leaked, are entirely false.

We believe that a large number of these accusations have been raised to slander our artist, who will be making her debut soon, and Source Music has begun procedures to move forward with strict legal action against any who spread one-sided, exaggerated rumors or false content regarding our artist."

CR: Allkpop

- All insisting she is a victim which just led to the response being much worse when the school violence document was leaked.

Display More

I mean......she was a victim though. If you read it carefully, all of HYBE's statement was only talking about all of the false accusations that were going on at the start (ai. Her being in Starship, throwing pots at people's heads, smoking, her hating on Sakura/Wonyoung, etc). All of those rumors were fake AF and were propagated by people trying to bring her down, making her a victim of slander. None of this was referring to the incident with Eunseo that led to the Level 5 SVC since that came out later. That's basically a whole separate issue.

I would hardly call Garam innocent, are we going to pretend like her and 7-9 of her friends didn't kidnap that girl just because she was talking shit behind their backs?

Quote from Tenken101

I mean......she was a victim though. If you read it carefully, all of HYBE's statement was only talking about all of the false accusations that were going on at the start (ai. Her being in Starship, throwing pots at people's heads, smoking, her hating on Sakura/Wonyoung, etc). All of those rumors were fake AF and were propagated by people trying to bring her down, making her a victim of slander. None of this was referring to the incident with Eunseo that led to the Level 5 SVC since that came out later. That's basically a whole separate issue.

yes this doesn't change the fact that HYBE used these false accusations to their advantage to paint her as a complete victim when a document existed which would indicate otherwise... lets not pretend that when HYBEs statement was first revealed people didn't take it to mean that all the stuff coming out was false and every accusation wrong. Their aggressive stance from the start made people more likely to criticise or discredit their later statements when they tried to paint the situation as complex rather then how they were making it appear black and white earlier on.

also i still cant understand how they kept pushing her on the public instead of making her take a hiatus like other companies did for their accused idols... just showed how they had no consideration towards her mental health tbh.

The incident to do with Eunseo was already out before just not in detail and from third parties like her classmates, which is how Eunseo was even brought into the conversation by someone claiming she was the one making the accusations > which led to the lawfirms statement.

Quote from Magus

I would hardly call Garam innocent, are we going to pretend like her and 7-9 of her friends didn't kidnap that girl just because she was talking shit behind their backs?

I'm sorry but please elaborate on that?? Who tf was kidnapping??

Quote from bobsyouruncle

yes this doesn't change the fact that HYBE used these false accusations to their advantage to paint her as a complete victim when a document existed which would indicate otherwise... lets not pretend that when HYBEs statement was first revealed people didn't take it to mean that all the stuff coming out was false and every accusation wrong. Their aggressive stance from the start made people more likely to criticise or discredit their later statements when they tried to paint the situation as complex rather then how they were making it appear black and white earlier on.

also i still cant understand how they kept pushing her on the public instead of making her take a hiatus like other companies did for their accused idols... just showed how they had no consideration towards her mental health tbh.

The incident to do with Eunseo was already out before just not in detail and from third parties like her classmates, which is how Eunseo was even brought into the conversation by someone claiming she was the one making the accusations > which led to the lawfirms statement.

Real question but how even sure are we that HYBE was even aware of the Level 5 SVC document at the start? I've read that schools would never release such a document easily without the consent of the student or her family. If asked about any such documents, Garam could potentially have just claimed there wasn't any and it would've been the end of the conversation. Because it STILL doesn't make sense to me that HYBE would have ever bothered to take in a trainee with a Level 5 SVC for debut. They're a large company with a large amount of trainees to pull from. From a business perspective, it just doesn't make sense to take a risk with a trainee with that kind of past attached to them. And the whole nepobaby accusation doesn't fly either because of the way they dropped her like a rock.

(and yes....they SHOULD have pulled her out from promotions when the first allegations started. But I guess they thought they could power through them since they were unsubstantiated until the Level 5 SVC leak happened)

Quote from irenesbadboy

I'm sorry but please elaborate on that?? Who tf was kidnapping??

OP was stretching it no one kidnapped anyone they just

- Female student 1 (FS1), Female student 2 (FS2) and KGR learned about the bad talks and among the, 8 of the students in the group went to a nearby apartment to swear at her saying "F*ck that f*cking b*tch". FS2 and KGR didn't swear at her but said 'It's f*cking dumbfounding'. Female student 4 (FS4) and 4 other students didn't sweat at her either. They talked for 3 hours. YES said that she wouldn't talk behind them again and they resolved their conflict

Quote from Tenken101

Real question but how even sure are we that HYBE was even aware of the Level 5 SVC document at the start? I've read that schools would never release such a document easily without the consent of the student or her family. If asked about any such documents, Garam could potentially have just claimed there wasn't any and it would've been the end of the conversation. Because it STILL doesn't make sense to me that HYBE would have ever bothered to take in a trainee with a Level 5 SVC for debut. They're a large company with a large amount of trainees to pull from. From a business perspective, it just doesn't make sense to take a risk with a trainee with that kind of past attached to them. And the whole nepobaby accusation doesn't fly either because of the way they dropped her like a rock.

(and yes....they SHOULD have pulled her out from promotions when the first allegations started. But I guess they thought they could power through them since they were unsubstantiated until the Level 5 SVC leak happened)

well then if garam omitted certain information from HYBE... then maybe all the blame doesn't go to HYBE for how this was handled also take a look at the school violence document and that explains why HYBE didn't release it in full or continue with Garam since a lot of it has a lot of stuff that knetz would blame Garam for.

Thread

FINALLY KIM GARAM SCHOOL VIOLENCE DOCUMENT PC TRANSLATION

[theqoo/instiz] KIM GARAM'S SCHOOL VIOLENCE RESULTS STATEMENT, SUMMARY OF THE CASE

bypannchoaAugust 10, 2022
t/n: heavily paraphrased

Minutes of the Self-Governing Committee on School Violence [Draft]

When was it opened: 2018 June 4th 15:30
Place: Meeting room 2nd floor of main building
List of committee members: 7 people = Vice-principal (Chairperson), head of life guidance, school police officer, and 4 parent members

[Opening statement by chairman]

[Person related to the matter]
Related Person 1:…

bobsyouruncle

Aug 10th 2022

Quote from bobsyouruncle

well then if garam omitted certain information from HYBE... then maybe all the blame doesn't go to HYBE for how this was handled also take a look at the school violence document and that explains why HYBE didn't release it in full or continue with Garam since a lot of it has a lot of stuff that knetz would blame Garam for.

Thread

FINALLY KIM GARAM SCHOOL VIOLENCE DOCUMENT PC TRANSLATION

[theqoo/instiz] KIM GARAM'S SCHOOL VIOLENCE RESULTS STATEMENT, SUMMARY OF THE CASE

bypannchoaAugust 10, 2022
t/n: heavily paraphrased

Minutes of the Self-Governing Committee on School Violence [Draft]

When was it opened: 2018 June 4th 15:30
Place: Meeting room 2nd floor of main building
List of committee members: 7 people = Vice-principal (Chairperson), head of life guidance, school police officer, and 4 parent members

[Opening statement by chairman]

[Person related to the matter]
Related Person 1:…

bobsyouruncle

Aug 10th 2022

I mean yeah. Basically that document absolves her from being a full-blown bully but it doesn't absolve her from having a messy past. You just can't be an idol with that kind of history.

Quote from irenesbadboy

I'm sorry but please elaborate on that?? Who tf was kidnapping??

Garam and believe 8 of her friends trapped the girl in an apartment for 3 hours and swore at her.

Quote from Magus

Garam and believe 8 of her friends trapped the girl in an apartment for 3 hours and swore at her.

they didnt trap her in an apartment.. no need to add stuff lol the truth is already bad enough but some translations do say they took her to one

Quote from Magus

Garam and believe 8 of her friends trapped the girl in an apartment for 3 hours and swore at her.

Please don't comment on a case that you don't understand, it just helps in spreading misinformation. And do you honestly think garam would be able to kidnap a whole ass child at 12 and get away with it, without being put in jail? Please be serious and think logically

Quote from Magus

Garam and believe 8 of her friends trapped the girl in an apartment

here comes the misinfo.s

And also don't forget they were 12 years old. Literal children. I guess giving people second chances in Korea does not exist.

Quote from Magus

I would hardly call Garam innocent, are we going to pretend like her and 7-9 of her friends didn't kidnap that girl just because she was talking shit behind their backs?

They were all friends and they were 12. It's honestly super natural that they go to a secluded area to confront the person in question.

Quote from Rednas

And also don't forget they were 12 years old. Literal children. I guess giving people second chances in Korea does not exist.

I saw the SVC report being talked about in korean forums. The general consensus was that Garam was still a bully for ganging up on a single person.. I was actually pretty surprised. Plus they keep mentioning the blackboard with vulgar images. Yeah if this didn't report didn't change the publics opinion then I don't think anything can salvage Garam's reputation anymore.

But who knows. The international K-pop fans had a positive response so maybe she can find a entertainment company that focuses outside korea or just be a youtuber/influencer. It would be a waste if she didn't use the fans she gained from this controversy.