IVE’s agency, Starship Entertainment, has issued a public apology after sharing a deepfake photo of member An Yujin.
Recently, a deepfake photo of the 21-year-old K-pop star was uploaded on IVE’s Chinese social media account. It led to backlash from fans and eventually, the post was deleted and the agency apologized in an official statement.
On January 15, Starship Entertainment posted an official apology, stating, “We sincerely apologize to our artist, An Yujin, and her fans, who must have been deeply hurt by the serious mistake made by our staff member in charge of Chinese SNS on January 9.”
They clarified, “This incident has been confirmed to stem from the management’s negligence, and we have taken the highest level of disciplinary action against the staff member and excluded them from related tasks.”
Additionally, “We also sincerely apologize to An Yujin and promise to do our best to recover from the damage caused by this incident.”
Starship Entertainment acknowledged the disappointment and concern they caused their fans. They vowed to learn from the incident and work towards regaining trust as a more mature company.
In other news, IVE is set to make a comeback with the album “IVE EMPATHY” on February 3, with the first title track “REBEL HEART” released on January 13. To promote their comeback album, Yujin and Wonyoung will appear on tvN’s popular talk show “You Quiz on the Block”, which airs every Wednesday.