Red Velvet Fans Debunk Netizens’ Claims About Irene Not Being Close With Her Members
Since Red Velvet‘s Irene was struck with an “attitude” controversy this month, a number of Korean netizens are convinced that she doesn’t belong in the group. A recent post on Korean forum Pann even hit the site’s trending list with alleged proof that Irene is not close with the rest of the group’s members. However, ReVeluvs have been debunking the so-called “evidence” with plenty of proof of their own, sharing numerous examples of Irene’s closeness with Red Velvet.
One of the key moment from the past raised by the original Pann poster was the time Seulgi showed off a “friendship certificate” given to her by Wendy. Back in 2018, Seulgi gave fans a glimpse of the adorable handmade contract, along with other letters from Wendy. The netizen used the gifts as proof of the close bond between “WenSeul”.
However, Red Velvet fans have since pointed out that Irene has also sent the members several handwritten letters in the past. In the same video, Seulgi showed a letter Irene wrote her during their trainee days. The main dancer also recently told fans that Irene wrote her a birthday letter while they were touring the United States last year.
And Seulgi isn’t the only recipient of Irene’s letters. When Wendy briefly hosted Raid the Convenience Store in 2017, Irene read out a heartwarming letter she wrote about the main vocalist.
#WendyOnThisDay 170120
Raid the Convenience StoreIrene wrote a letter to Wendy 💙#웬디 #WENDY #레드벨벳 #RedVelvet pic.twitter.com/qPXxC4pPQd
— WENDY DAILY 💙 (@wendydaily221) January 20, 2020
In the post’s comments, some netizens recalled when the other Red Velvet members (minus Irene) visited Wendy in the hospital after her untimely injury so they could watch KBS‘s Gayo Daechukje together. The commenters cited this as an example of Irene’s lack of closeness.
Of course, Irene couldn’t make it to the hospital that day because she was MC-ing the Gayo with GOT7‘s Jinyoung. It’s likely that the other members got together that day specifically to watch and support her.
Another point the netizen raised was how the Red Velvet members are often seen “babying” maknae Yeri. For example, when Yeri recently uploaded a photo of herself at the age of 17, Joy left a sweet comment calling Yeri “a baby” with plenty of loving emojis.
Aigoo, a baby ❤️😍🙌
Again, ReVeluvs say this doesn’t prove Irene isn’t close with Yeri too. Fans noted that Irene has taken a motherly role in the maknae‘s life since before the group even debuted. Not long after her debut, Yeri revealed that Irene had been ironing her uniform and cooking her breakfast at 6:00 AM since she was in elementary school.
On a similar note, the Pann poster also recalled when Wendy snapped a photo of Yeri’s Colette endorsement poster in a makeup store and texted it to her like a proud mom.
According to fans, Irene has done the same many times. A month ago, Irene posted a video of herself dancing to Joy’s popular OST, “Introduce Me a Good Person”, in a convenience store. She told fans she also texted the video to Red Velvet’s group chat.
INTRODUCE ME A GOOD PERSON BUT MAKE IT IRENE 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/oZDV83nRJv
— 테아🧸| JYISW (@cubseulgi) September 28, 2020
In their forum post, the netizen claiming the Red Velvet members are closer without Irene cited Instagram comments as another piece of evidence. The other members are frequently seen leaving comments and likes on each other’s Instagram accounts, while Irene tends not to interact much.
Seulgi-unnie, I love you ❤️
However, Irene has certainly shown love to the members on Instagram in her own way. A day after Wendy became the final Red Velvet star to create her own Instagram account, Irene followed all the members and uploaded a sweet post with pictures and videos of all of them. She even captioned it with hearts in each member’s assigned color.
Last but not least, a recent Insight Instagram post praised Wendy for packing lunches for the Red Velvet members when they filmed for BU:QUEST, making sure they were well fed while they were without her. In the comments, many netizens claimed this was an example of all the members aside from Irene showing kindness to each other.
But fans say this is yet another example of false evidence and omitted truths. A similar scenario took place with Irene earlier this month. On her Instagram story, Wendy shared that she had joked about wanting a drink in the group chat with her members. Despite being busy with a schedule, Irene saw the message and sent Wendy an order from The Coffee Bean.
