In a concert, SHINee Key and SNSD Taeyeon were seen cheering on THIS controversial idol. While some gave them the benefit of the doubt, international fans conveyed their frustrations.

Ex-NCT Lucas Shows Support to SHINee Key

On January 27 and 28, SHINee Key held his solo concert, "2024 Keyland: On: and On." To support him, not only Shawols (fandom) filled the venue with cheers and screams, but idols were also present at the two-day event.

According to those who attended the concert, VIVIZ, NCT Ten and Renjun, SNSD Taeyeon, as well as Key's co-members SHINee Minho and Taemin were there.

Among those who attended Key's solo concert, former NCT and WayV member Lucas created a buzz among K-fans and international fans.

At the time, he was seen sitting beside SNSD Taeyeon who was waving her Shating star (SHINee lightstick) and pointed at him when Key started to look for him.

In a video, the male idol gave a shoutout to Lucas, saying:

"Lucas, where are you? There he is! Hi! Thank you for coming! He's sitting with my family (SMTOWN artists)."

Following the shoutout, fans noticed that Lucas was not only sitting beside Taeyeon but was also in the same row as SHINee Minho and Taemin, as well as NCT Ten and Renjun, who were his former NCT co-members.

Based on the video, Korean fans who were heard screaming and looking for him also showed enthusiastic responses to the interaction between Lucas and his fellow SM Entertainment artists.

SHINee Key, SNSD Taeyeon Draw Mixed Reactions for Cheering On Lucas

However, the idols weren't able to dodge the criticism of K-pop fans and netizens given the dark past of Lucas.

In 2021, he was accused of dating fans and cheating on them, gaslighting, as well as manipulating his girlfriends, and even sexually assaulting them.

There were also allegations of Lucas backstabbing his co-members and other artists, leading him to ultimately leave NCT and WayV in 2023.

Despite this, he remained under SM Entertainment and decided to promote as a soloist, hinting at his new start.

Thus, seeing Key and Taeyeon cheer on Lucas didn't sit well with fans and made them uncomfortable.

Key was then criticized for giving him a shoutout, when his name is considered a "taboo," even among his former NCT co-members and the fandom NCTzens.

There were initial attempts to defend Key such as him being forced to re-introduce Lucas by SM, but fans refuted this by saying Key is a senior who is always open about his thoughts and opinions; thus, he can't be easily controlled by SM.

This led them to the assumption that Key did the shoutout on his own accord. However, this added to the fire since fans want to know why is he still being friends with Lucas when he did the aforementioned acts.

SNSD Taeyeon was also hit by fans' anger, with international fans bringing back Jessica's past feud with her and the group.

At the time, the latter was "kicked out" of SNSD for having her own business, and there were rumors that Taeyeon was one of those who voted her out.

Fans implied how she could still be friends with Lucas who did inappropriate acts when her former co-member Jessica was blacklisted in Korea, the reason she was left with no choice but to promote her career in other countries.

Some SONEs defended Taeyeon and implied that the two cases don't have a correlation, but more fans stated that Taeyeon is still being unfair.

What do you think of this situation?

READ MORE: 8 Most Anticipated K-pop Artists in 2024: Ex-NCT Lucas, BTS Jin, HORI7ON, More!

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

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Eunice Dawson.