Lee Seung Gi Sparks Criticism From US Fans, Cancels New York Concert Amid Growing Backlash
Soloist Lee Seung Gi kicked off his first-ever US tour on August 26 in Los Angeles, California. While the three-stop tour gained much attention, some of Lee’s stateside fans in Atlanta and New York have expressed disappointment at the soloist’s actions.
On September 1, The Korea Times Atlanta reported that Lee performed in front of about 1,000 fans in Atlanta. However, Lee is accused of “having disrespected his Korean American fans.”
According to the report, Lee was scheduled to visit and dine at local restaurants, belonging to Korean American owners who sponsored Lee’s Atlanta concert. The restaurant and other sponsors had purchased tickets in bulk, as well as arranged to feed Lee’s staff and, in exchange, asked Lee to visit the restaurant and take promotional pictures.
On the night of the dinner, though, Lee is reported to have canceled his reservations—blaming his “unwell condition.” The restauranteurs told ATLANTAK, “Lee’s cancelation disappointed his stateside fans who wanted to see him at the restaurants.”
We didn’t draft contracts or anything, but we kept in touch with Lee’s Korean management via KakaoTalk and over the phone since before he departed Korea. HUMANMADE even asked us for the details on the names of the sponsoring restaurants. On our behalf, Hugh Entertainment notified Lee of how many pictures we’d like and other information.
We prepared a lot for his visit. But he canceled on all three restaurants on the day of the visit. We weren’t given any notice. He blamed his unwell condition and didn’t show up. Lee’s cancelation disappointed his stateside fans who wanted to see him at the restaurants.
Had he any consideration for his fans in Atlanta, he wouldn’t have pulled something like this. We don’t really understand him canceling all of his schedules. We promoted his visit, based on what his management and we agreed upon. We can’t help but wonder if he canceled the schedules because he thought very little of the Korean Americans in Atlanta.
— Restaurant Owner/Concert Sponsor
Hugh Entertainment, the event promoters for Lee’s US tour, also claimed that his last-minute cancelation was unexpected.
He canceled last-minute, which put us between a rock and a hard place. We received countless complaints from his concert sponsors about the abrupt change of schedule. In the meanwhile, we apologize to the sponsors, including the restaurant owner, who helped put his concert together.
From what we’ve seen, we didn’t notice anything off about Lee’s condition. We were told on the day of that he wouldn’t be dining at the restaurant. Also, when he arrived at the Hilton Hotel that we booked for him, he didn’t even get out of his vehicle. He ended up leaving to a different hotel without providing us with any explanation.
— Hugh Entertainment
Soon, Lee’s management responded—explaining that the reservation was not official and that, as management, Lee’s well-being was prioritized.
Yes, there was a mutual spoken agreement that Lee would visit the restaurant, but it was more in a sense that he’d make the effort to coordinate the visit. After his flight [to Atlanta] got postponed several times, we decided to prioritize the performance and that it’d be better for him to focus on maintaining a good condition for the concert.
— HUMANMADE
Amid the growing backlash, Lee Seung Gi canceled his New York leg of the tour which was scheduled to take place on September 2. Korean news outlet Hankyung reported on the possibility of failed ticket sales being the reason. HUMANMADE clarified that the cancelation is “due to unforeseen circumstances at the venue.”
