After Stray Kids Bang Chan opened up about junior idols not greeting him back in a recent music broadcast filmed in Paris, IVE's fandom has been defending the girl group from STAYs' malicious comments. 

Here's the full story. 

Stray Kids Bang Chan Draws Attention for Remark About Junior Idols Greeting Seniors

In online communities, the recent remark given by Stray Kids Bang Chan has been creating a heated debate among K-pop fans.

On May 16, an article titled, "A male idol who is currently in a state of chaos due to his general sniping," was posted, revealing how Bang Chan's recent remark caused an altercation between numerous fandoms and netizens.

In context, the idol recently communicated with fans through a live broadcast wherein he was asked about the recording of KBS2's "2023 Music Bank in Paris," which was aired on April 7.

ALSO READ: Stray Kids Bang Chan Criticizes New Gen Idols' for Lack of Respect, Basic Etiquette

"I don't know if my story will sound like a 'young old man' because the generation is different, but I think greeting has become a level that it is not basic manners anymore.

I'm not trying to curse someone. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if they don't get (greetings) even though they just say hello when someone passes by? Is it okay for the current generation?"

In response, fans speculated in the chat room and mentioned other idol teams who appeared in the performance at the time.

However, Bang Chan said, "I won't say the name."

IVE Accused By Stray Kids Fandom As Juniors Behind Story, DIVEs Defend Group

When the broadcast circulated online, Bang Chan's remark immediately became controversial for sniping at junior idols in general. Because he didn't mention any name, K-pop fans have been skeptical about various idols and started the witch-hunting among groups.

When the music show took place, Stray Kids, NMIXX, IVE, ENHYPEN, P1Harmony, CRAVITY, AB6IX, THE BOYZ, and MAMAMOO were the only teams that were on stage in this "2023 Music Bank in Paris".

Based on Bang Chan's hint that it was a junior idol, STAYs (fandom) started to narrow down the list until overseas fans claimed IVE as the target of Bang Chan's sniping, despite him not mentioning any name.

   @simp_for.felix can't they be respectful for once?.. It's not the first time ive ignored senior groups bowing to them #straykids #bangchan #musicbank #channie #ive  #kpopfyp #fy ♬ оригинальный звук -     

After reviewing past interactions between the two groups during the recording, videos were posted on platforms such as TikTok speculating that IVE was seen ignoring Bang Chan and Lee Know when they bowed first to them.

Just watching this, international STAYs began criticizing IVE and calling out their behavior.

Due to malicious comments and false accusations, DIVEs (IVE fandom) took to SNS to defend the group, emphasizing that in the video, it was recognizable that the members didn't see the members because they were busy greeting their own fans.

Not only DIVEs but even Korean netizens jumped to IVE's defense and implied that it isn't a big deal:

"If he has something to say and comes off kindly, why doesn't he just ask why people were not saying hello to him directly or through his manager? If he's the same celebrity as them, he must know how scary malicious comments are, but what is he doing after criticizing all his juniors?

Even if he jokes around about greeting him to his face if they saw him pass by, it's really a fight or a burst of personality so I wonder if he had to do this. Did he want to let young kids get criticized?"

"Aren't they too far not to be greeted intentionally...? I don't think anyone would have been able to see it, but if it wasn't even a situation where they didn't even stand still and IVE was saying hello to the fans, of course, they wouldn't be able to see it... And it's just that the timing of the greeting wasn't right after the hatch, but I don't know why fans felt rejected because of this, even though it's just a trivial thing."

READ MORE: IVE Jang Wonyoung Draws Mixed Reactions For Not Bowing To Others– Why Is It Big Deal?

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Eunice Dawson.