After prosecution revealed that one of the Wanna One members were falsely added into the final debuting lineup, many netizens have been demanding to know who was unjustly kicked out of the true lineup.
According to reports released by the prosecution, Kim Yong Bum CP manipulated the final votes for “Trainee A”.
Trainee A made it into the top 11 finalist who would be debuting as Wanna One, but Kim Yong Bum cut down his votes and kicked him out of the final lineup. Instead, he took Trainee B who didn’t make it to the lineup and manipulated the votes to have him debut with the group. Trainee B debuted with Wanna One and promoted with the group for the 1.5 years.
News reports speculate that NU’EST‘s JR (Kim Jonghyun) was Trainee A. Netizens claim there are multiple proof that seemed fishy in JR’s disqualification.
First, they claimed that it was impossible for JR, who ranked #1 prior to the final episode, was pushed down over by 10 spots.
Before the live broadcast, Kim Jonghyun ranked #1 at the ranking announcement. It’s unexplainable even now how he ended up in 14th place.
— Netizen
They also pointed out how JR was included in the “mistaken” final lineup image that was posted onto Mnet’s official account. The initial post had Kim Samuel, NUEST’s JR and Baekho’s images were listed on the site. Mnet soon deleted the post and apologized for their mistake.
When the debut members were announced, their official Facebook page uploaded a photo with JR included in the final lineup. He’s clearly a victim of the manipulation.
— Netizen
Fans are demanding that Mnet compensate JR for his loss and damages.
Someone interfered with Kim Jonghyun’s opportunity to fulfill his dream. Mnet announced that they’re preparing to take responsibility for their action, so they need to compensate the victims too.
JR deserves to be compensated.
— Netizen
It has not been confirmed if Trainee A was indeed JR or not. The prosecutors are still in a legal battle against the producers of Produce 101 series, and CJ ENM announced that they will make a final decision about IZ*ONE and X1‘s future by the end of this year.
