Days later, Hwayoung would release her own statement saying that the reason for her departure was because she was being bullied by the senior members of T-ara, and overnight it seemed the entire T-ara community (and Korean netizens in general) turned on T-ara. I’m not kidding. i rememebr watching as people I’d chatted to every day on T-ara forums changed their tune and began saying things like “They should be punished!” and even my friend whom I knew in real life and thought would back up T-ara to the end shrugged and said, “I don’t know who to believe!”
My initial feelings were stted here with a quick note simply saying how worried I was for them!
I was stunned that so few T-ara fans stood by them and defended them, and of how many so easily believed the accusations. Over the next coming months, T-ara fell out of the graces of the K-pop world til they were practically also-rans even though they were part of the great Hallyu Wave.
Of course, a small but soon to grow community was always there to step up for T-ara, and if you’ve followed any of my posts on K-pop sites know that I have always ever defended them, I NEVER believed the rumours of bullying no matter how many times it was brought up.
And brought up it was. It seemed that every couple of years, when animosity towards T-ara seemed to be waning, Hwayoung would appear on a show and cry about how traumatized she was being bullied, and the ball would start rolling all over again.
As you may know, in recent years, T-ara have again and again showed what fighters they are, never giving up, even if it meant starting over from scratch. they worked fastidiously and, though still shunned in Korea, have bgun making a name for themselves in China. Little by little, they began to get back TV drama roles and CM endorsements and even won a recent international fan battle.
And then Hwayoung and her sister appeared on a new show and brought up the bullying again. Finally, staff and management, who had been silent for 5 years, couldn’t stand by any more and finally released statements saying that all the bullying allegations were absolutely UNFOUNDED! They talked about her playing pretend victim, they talked about her faking her leg injuries to get out of performing. ALL of it came out, and now, FINALLY, T-ara have been proven INNOCENT!
As Captain_Fantasy Summed Up:
"For further clarity, today sisters Ryu Hwayoung (ex-T-ARA) and Ryu Hyoyoung (ex- F-ve Dolls) appeared on a Taxi themed talk show. Hwayoung spoke about her time after she was fired from CCM and she said "I hid in my room and cried for days".
Shortly afterward, an article on Instiz appeared from an ex-manager of T-ARA with screenshots from a KKT conversation saying that Hyoyoung and Hwayoung were threatening to beat Areum and cut her face.
He also goes on to say that Hwayoung never injured her leg at all when she claimed to be injured going so far as to get a cast at the hospital despite no diagnosis or any injury whatsoever.
Some skepticism was the initial response from netizens but then Hyoyoung admitted the texts were true when she said what she did to protect her sister.
Netizens are angry because they played the victims for the past 4 years at great expense to T-ARA who has been forced to endure the label of "bullies" after the infamous witch hunt of 2012.
Areum posted on instagram today thanking the ex manager for passing along the message to the media and sharing his story with the public."
Aw man, it is SUCH a good feeling to know that my girls have finally been cleared of the horrible labels laid upon them. Of course, nothing can bring back the lost time and missed opportunities, but our girls have proved they have the stuff the beat all the odds!
T-ARA HWAITING!!!!
