DR Music Announces BLACKSWAN Leia’s Hiatus—Fatou And Youngheun React
BLACKSWAN‘s Leia has been announced to be on hiatus, and fellow member Fatou and ex-member Youngheun reacted to the news.
DR Music released a statement that Leia has gone on hiatus and is currently in her home country Brazil to take care of her mental health with her family.
While DR Music expressed concern for her health, they said the group would continue without her. BLACKSWAN will begin preparations for a three-member comeback.
Indian member Sriya and Brazilian German member Gabi joined the group shortly before Korean members Judy and Youngheun graduated on July 31, 2022.
Black Swan (블랙스완) [Also known as B.S.] is a 4 member global Kpop girl group under DR Music (also known as DR Entertainment). The group currently consists of Leia, Fatou, Sriya and Gabi. Hyeme left the group on November 10, 2020, and Youngheun and Judy graduated on July 31, 2022. The group debuted on October 16, 2020 with their first full album ‘Goodbye Rania’ Sriya and Gabi were added to the group in May 26, 2022.
— KProfiles
Previously at the end of October, Leia responded to questions via Instagram Stories regarding the status of BLACKSWAN. She implied she didn’t know if BLACKSWAN would continue.
Fan: Does the group still exist
Leia: Great question
Fan: I know you can’t talk, but are they trying to get you out of the group or boycott?
Leia: I believe boycott
Now, Fatou posted a cryptic tweet shortly after the news of Fatou’s hiatus. She said, “Imagine how tired I am.”
According to a fan repost, it also appears that Fatou had posted an upside-down emoji.
??? 🤨 @b_fatou_s pic.twitter.com/u5zUcEeF3I
— mark | CAT&MOUSE GO VIRAL (@etherealrozie) November 9, 2022
Some can’t help but wonder if Fatou found out the news at the same time as everyone else based on the posts.
From Fatou’s reaction it’s almost like she found out the same time as us. Almost like dr didn’t even inform the members what would be happening. Dr is such a bad company and I’m exhausted with them
— Blackswanday1 ⪩ ⪨ (@blackswanday1_) November 9, 2022
Additionally, a friend of Fatou’s posted a statement via Instagram Stories, shading DR Music’s decision to keep Leia as a BLACKSWAN member.
Fatou’s friends and ex members Y & J are just as confused as we all are 😩 pic.twitter.com/sde70dbWDT
— LUVGG (@LUVPANDA_GG) November 9, 2022
Former member Youngheun posted a GIF of a man wiping sweat in relief reacting to the news, saying that she had made “the best decision of her life,” clearly referring to leaving DR Music. She has been liking posts regarding the mistreatment of the other members, especially Fatou.
Honestly don’t see how people don’t want to acknowledge Leia as the problem youngheun literally liked this tweet calling Leia a hypocrite. It would be better for both the group and Leia’s health -due to mass hate she receives- if she left and stayed somewhere she can get better pic.twitter.com/QBupAS4Cvy
— Blackswanday1 ⪩ ⪨ (@blackswanday1_) November 9, 2022
Similarly, both she and Judy unfollowed Leia. Netizens have noticed that Fatou is usually interacted with by members on social media while Leia is not.
not to be that person but notice how youngheun and judy immediately unfollowed leia and still follow fatou. if that doesn’t tell you that they still aren’t in good terms with her, i don’t know what will
— maria✨I WANT (@mystichwarang) July 31, 2022
I really want a leia Stan to come forward and tell me why every ex member of Blackswan unfollowed only leia, why Sriya and gabi only Interact with fatous posts and not leia. Like are you guys so oblivious you can’t see she’s the problem or what???I need an explanation.#BlackSwan
— olahobi//BS ⪩ ⪨ (@olahobi03) November 4, 2022
Last year, Fatou and Leia were swept up in bullying accusations against each other. Fatou called out her fellow BLACKSWAN member on her Twitter account for her allegedly “disrespectful and selfish” ways and referred to her as “a gigantic headache to everyone in the company.” She shared these several lengthy now-deleted posts after an anonymous netizen claiming to be Leia’s relative shared rumors about Fatou’s alleged bullying towards Leia.
Shortly after, DR Music released a statement, citing “language and culture” as the root of the problem.
Hello, we are DR Music Entertainment. This is an official statement about the recent issues within the team.
BLACKSWAN is currently promoting their first single album and has begun to receive a lot of support and attention from the fans through this promotion. We sincerely thank LUMINA for this. BLACKSWAN is a group that has just begun to attract attention as an idol and is a group of member of various nationalities, including language and culture. Therefore, it is a team where various opinions and cultures inevitably coexist, and respect and understanding are required more than other K-Pop teams.
Regarding the fact that the team’s internal issues were distorted as if they were true due to others and spread to fans, all the staff of DR Music Entertainment sincerely apologize to you. Sometimes when various people work together, various kinds of disagreements occur in the team. We call it constructive dispute. These constructive disputes between members to increase completeness should not be trapped in a provocative frame of bullying and promote discord within the team.
We have had a lot of conversations with the members over the past few days and both the company and the members admitted that the incident once again made them realize the importance of each other. We also promised to ourselves once again that we should do our best [until] this album activity is over.
— DR Music @blackswan_drent/Twitter
You can read Fatou’s entire statement about Leia below.
BLACKSWAN’s Fatou Denies Bullying Allegations While Calling Out Leia For Disrespecting Her Family