Suho, the leader of the mega-popular boy group EXO, was accused of stealing shoes from a popular footwear brand after an ex-stylist made revelations on Instagram.

SM Entertainment has since responded to the controversy. 

Is It True? Stylist Exposes Idol of Not Returning 300+ Pairs of Nike Shoes

On February 23, K-pop fandom communities were sent into a frenzy after a stylist sniped a K-pop idol for not returning Nike shoes worth 100 million KRW (about 77,000 USD).

On the stylist's Instagram story, she expressed her frustrations.

"Send everything without missing anything. Why is it that you don't return it right away? Buy and wear them with your own money."

Along with this message, she posted collated photos of the Nike sneakers that were allegedly not returned by the unnamed idol. The stylist continued:

"You have been organizing it for the past few days, and you have taken a lot of dirty things. I don't know what you want to have, but it's already been six months since you said you'll give it back to me. When will you give it to me? I don't like writing on Instagram like this, so organize it before I reveal your real name.

Stop living a pretentious life and be sensible. Stop contacting people around you and buy what you need with your money. A kid who has a lot of money uses a dome please, stop giving gifts, it's absurd." 

The stylist conveyed a final warning and ended the post, stating:

"I think there are more than 300 other sneakers. Stop pretending to be really nice, stop lying and learn about humanity first. You said you'd give it back to me, so organize everything. I bought it all with my own money. You should write an apology and post it, but I have a lot of worries. If I get angry one more time, I will talk about everything."

EXO Suho Accused As the Idol Behind Stylist's 'Blind Item'

As the stylist's Instagram post circulated on various online communities and SNS, it immediately sparked controversy. The stylist is known for mainly receiving top idol groups as clients; thus, the celebrity the stylist exposed is also believed to be a member of a popular idol group.

With this, plenty of online users and K-pop fans thought she was referring to Suho, the leader of the famous boy group EXO. In the past, the idol worked a lot with the stylist, making him the target of majority's speculation. 

With this, the EXO leader was ridiculously criticized by malicious commenters. Even without proof, people left comments on SNS, like:

• "A shoe thief."
• "Taking 100 million won worth of shoes... are you a beggar?"
• "I saw that he also tried to sell the shoes on eBay."

Immediately, EXO-Ls and Bunny Citizens (Suho's individual fandom) jumped to the idol's defense. They argued it's extremely impossible, because why would a silver-spoon idol, who grew up wealthy even before his debut, do something like what the stylist revealed. 

In fact, Eris explained that it could not be Suho since all of his shoes while working with the stylist were sponsored by Nike, and some were given as gifts to the idol.

Also, the former stylist would even tag Suho on her posts, thanking the brand for giving the idol shoes.

EXO-Ls countered and called the stylist out after deleting posts. Luckily, the fandom was able to take screenshots.

SM Entertainment has since responded to this claim and denied there's truth in the post.

"Posts that are currently presumed to be Suho online are completely groundless and have nothing to do with Suho as they are plain false facts.

We are preparing to file a complaint for defamation by labeling false information through legal representatives for posting contents that can remind our artists with malicious intent, and we will also respond strongly to the indiscriminate spread of rumors related to this."

What are your thoughts about this issue? Which idol did you think the stylist was referring to? Tell us in the comments!

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Written by Eunice Dawson.