Draft:Keung To Public Trial Incident

• Comment: Hello, and thank you for your contributions. The Keung To Public Trial Incident topic might be appropriate to mention in the Keung To article, but it's not worthy of a standalone article. Please let me know if you have any questions! Crunchydillpickle🥒 (talk) 14:59, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

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On 12th November 2023, Keung To, a member of the well-known Cantonese boy band MIRROR in Hong Kong, was embroiled in a controversy that was widely regarded as a cyberbullying issue. This incident subsequently evolved into a series of turmoil among netizens' condemnation as he conducted a public trial of a fan comment that raised dissatisfaction about his behavior. It consequently led to a public apology and further exposed his responsibility to bear the potential concern of legal repercussions.

Incident

Rewinding to November 4th, 2023, Keung To performed in the finale, singing “The Love Without Words” and “Master Class” at the “Teen” Graduation Ceremony. After fans of the idol accused Keung To of lip-syncing during a performance, a video of the performer went viral. The celebrity in the video stopped singing when he saw a youngster, which was a very endearing reaction. After the clip went viral on the internet, he posted three stories with pictures of black screen with the words  successively on his own instagram.

The first story,“Sorry, I can't hold it in anymore.”

Keung To shared his response to the comment form a fan and her username has been blurred, the fan commented,  “Actually, it’s so obvious that he was not singing for real. Can’t he be more sincere and professional? Why do you need to lip-sync? That’s not okay at all!”

Then Keung responded to her, “It's fine to dislike it, but please don’t use your subjective views to cover up someone’s hard work.

The thing that angers me the most is that your Instagram has a series of videos about mental health. That’s great. But please walk the talk. Otherwise, I think that’s very ironic. You never know how a simple sentence can hurt someone so deeply.”

In the second story, he elaborated on his previous reply to the fan,”I saw it by accident. This comment is so ironic. Someone who always shares mental health information on Instagram is actually saying hurtful things about others. It’s really fine to dislike it, but please don’t make assumptions and spread unconfirmed things based on your subjective views.

I don’t want those who help others with mental health issues to also be hurting others.”

In the last story, Keung shared a photo of the fan who had made comments but then deleted it immediately with words,”What you said about empathy and misunderstandings, I hope you can set an example for yourself.”

Following the posting of all of the idol's stories, the fan responded with their own. The fan said in the post that if Keung To lip-synced, it was "fake," and the idol should explain because it was disappointing if it was real.

Aftermath

As more citizens pay attention to this incident, there are more dissenting voices toward this issue, which eventually becomes a controversy. Thus, Keung To deleted the previous story and posted an apology on his Instagram account on November 11. He admitted his wrong behavior of cyberbullying because of his impulse. He also stated that everyone should take responsibility for their speech. His fans got sore for him and kept attacking the critic online.

After two days, the critic left a comment on the influencer’s video, stating that her physical and mental condition was getting worse due to this situation. Hence, the netizens tried to comment and cheer her up, and she replied to these messages with appreciation.

On November 14, the critic posted an announcement and stated that she was so annoyed about being disturbed and being impersonated. She wished to end the influence of this incident and the bullying toward her and Keung To, which she has always opposed and felt bad about. Lastly, she hoped that there would be some space for them to calm down and have a better physical and mental condition. She also said that she would not respond to this incident again at the moment to avoid the incident getting worse.

During We 12’s public interactive event on November 18, Keung To talked about this incident in person for the first time. He mentioned that he would like to contact the critic to apologize and learn more about each other. In addition, he added that he hoped to grow more and was more committed to focusing on his work after this incident.

Reaction

Keung To's fans

After reading the stories posted by Keung To about his feelings on the hater’s comment, they felt angry and sad for him. As the stories posted on Keung To's Instagram showed the user name and the face of the hater, they started to comment on the hater's Instagram page with all sorts of foul language and hateful contents immediately. Some of the radical fans even threatened the hater and tracked her down in real life. They supported the actions of Keung To and accused the hater of “cyber bullying''.

The hater posted by Keung To

She was shocked by the actions of Keung To and his fans. She couldn't believe what happened to her was real. She was bothered by the comments and 'dms' of Keung To's fans. She was scared and feeling not secured because some of the radical fans had threatened her and tracked her down in real life. Even though she tried to get rid of Keung To's fans by changing her username, she never succeeded. She hoped that the public discourse could come to an end as soon as possible and the general public could stop bullying her and Keung To. She blessed Keung To and wished that both of them could have their own personal space to calm themselves down and heal their psychological damages due to this incident.

MIRROR members

Jeremy, a member of Mirror, accused Keung To of being impulsive and immature when handling haters’ comments. He believed that Keung To will learn the lesson, understand that being a public figure should mind their behaviour,  and become more mature when handling the same type of issues in the future.

Ahfa Wong Wai Kwan, Keung To's manager, advised Keung To to delete the controversial stories and comforted Keung To by posting an Instagram story, saying, “don’t care what others say, just be yourself.”

Stanley, a member of Mirror, sent a message to care about Keung To's condition and said he would give him personal space. He also shared the songlist he listens to when he is sad to Keung To, hoping that this could help him feel better.

Jer, a member of Mirror, said he would give Keung To personal space as well. Also, because Keung To had already apologized, Jer hoped that the incident would end soon.

Analysis

Ka Ming

On November 11th, popular writer Ka Ming published an article on Facebook and Instagram, where he urged readers to refrain from excessively defending Keung To. Ka Ming argued that the initial comment that sparked the incident did not contain any offensive language or abuses. He further asserted that it is customary for professional singers to face criticism following a disappointing performance.

According to Ka Ming, Keung's response to the commenter resulted in an onslaught of attacks from tens of thousands of his fans, which he perceives as an assault on the original commenter. Furthermore, Ka Ming expressed the belief that receiving criticism from fans and superiors is a part of an artist's professional life, describing it as being included in their salary.

Corrupt The Youth

On November 12th, the popular philosophy group Corrupt The Youth published an article on Instagram and Facebook, addressing the appropriateness and moral implications of public figures responding to criticisms from the general public. The article presents a viewpoint advocating against pop stars publicly criticizing specific individuals, citing the potential for their large fan base to be mobilized, thus giving them disproportionately greater influence compared to ordinary individuals. The article also acknowledges points of skepticism to this viewpoint, including questioning the factual basis of this argument and expressing discomfort regarding the disparity in responsibility between well-known and less well-known stars.

Furthermore, the article highlights that the expectations and responsibilities imposed on pop stars are not objectively defined. Instead, they are based on the cultural consensus within specific communities, indicating a reliance on cultural relativism. This perspective suggests that the set of responsibilities placed upon pop stars is subject to variation and interpretation based on the particular cultural context.