SM Entertainment’s Controversial Decision Relating To RIIZE And Seunghan Angers Fans
SM Entertainment‘s recent decision for RIIZE regarding Seunghan, who is currently on hiatus, has sparked huge anger and a renewed boycott.
In August 2023, RIIZE released a performance video of an unreleased track called “Siren” and even performed it at several music shows and events.
It was previously announced that RIIZE would be re-releasing their song “Siren” on April 3 and it would serve as the pre-single for their 1st mini album RIIZING to be released in June.
When the song was released, netizens were shocked to hear that Seunghan’s vocals had been removed from the song.
Seunghan is not featured on RIIZE’s ‘Siren’ single release. pic.twitter.com/eRd3sHJhoV
— Kpop Charts (@kchartsmaster) April 3, 2024
While some fans worried about SM Entertainment’s erasure of Seunghan…
SM is slowly erasing Seunghan out of riize
byu/PresenceAltruistic98 inkpopthoughts
Nobody asked for an ot6 siren. Kfans didnt even care about the song. It was international fans that pushed for the full song since last year….who are largely OT7…. SM hates us, yet wants RIIZE to be popular internationally? Hilarious
— zephyrrose (@zephyrrose_p) April 3, 2024
this is actually crossing the line. seunghan being on hiatus is not an excuse to completely erase his presence in the group. cutting him out of ads was already enough but to replace his part in siren?? it's clear that sm is not prioritizing his return to riize
— anna ❄️🫧 (@antonleedotcom) April 3, 2024
Others channeled their emotions into anger and after the song was released without Seunghon, and among other aspects related to Seunghan’s hiatus, netizens called for a boycott of SM Entertainment and all RIIZE content until something was done.
BOYCOTT MEANS:
Unfollow all Riize official accounts on everything
Don’t interact with any of their posts
Don’t watch or share any of their content
Don’t share anything about the upcoming comeback
Don’t stream their music
Don’t buy any type of merch
Share boycott hashtags— 🎀Live, Laugh, Love Seunghan🎀 (@EunHani_) April 3, 2024
WHERE IS SEUNGHAN
#BoycottSM pic.twitter.com/X0YlMczyK9— rere🫧 (@purplesenghan) April 3, 2024
no matter how much sm tries they can NEVER erase seunghan’s impact he brought to that song. no one can ever bring justice to his parts like him
— wiz (@jhyngae) April 3, 2024
i’m fr sending protest trucks if sm doesn’t bring back seunghan like it’s not that serious
— AARON (@lidolmix) April 3, 2024
SM GIVE US BACK SEUNGHAN IM SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR SHIT #SEUNGHAN #BoycottSM #RIIZEIs7 pic.twitter.com/34wQFKWQRf
— selmaⵣ🇵🇸 CONGRATS BDU🥇 (@1lovey00) April 3, 2024
the only siren i acknowledge #boycottsm pic.twitter.com/uV55F8hzkw
— xn (@onuraeong) April 3, 2024
While the boycott was seeing results, SM Entertainment has yet to respond to fans’ concerns.
