On October 14th, 2019, Choi Jin-ri or best known as “Sulli” was found dead in her apartment in Korea. The police are positive that the cause of death was suicide. There were no signs of a break-in, and they also found a handwritten note of her expressing her feelings. They are still investigating and exploring all possible options.
Sulli is most known for being a part of SM Entertainment’s girl group f(x). At the age of 11 she entered into SM Entertainmentand and started acting professinally. Later on, she debuted in f(x) when she was 15 years old. After being in f(x) for around 6 years, she started to become unhappy. “At some point, I started to realise and started to wonder why I should do this and for what I’m doing this,” she said on her reality show Jinri Store.
She decided to leave the group in August, 2015 to focus on her acting career. After this, she started to receive a lot of negative attention from netizens.
Netizens are anonymous internet users in the K-Pop industry and are known for criticizing idols for the smallest things. One instance was when Sulli posted a picture of her in a camisole (a loose tank top), a netizen commented, “You wanted to get naked so bad, huh?”.
Another example is when she kissed her close friend Goo Hara during a live broadcast, many people assumed that she was apart of the LGBTQ+ community.
An anonymous user wrote, “Are they lesbians? They’re nasty… No wonder [Choiza is her ex-boyfriend] left.”
Sulli did ask for help from her entertainment company. SM Entertainment attempted to stop these spiteful comments by tracking the IP addresses to where the comments were being posted and tried to take legal action but, their attempts were unsuccessful. The official statement read, “The malicious commenter’s IP address is registered overseas, so it is difficult to find and punish these criminals. The IP address was made temporarily just for the use of such comments, making it hard for us to catch them.”
This wasn’t the first time SM Entertainment was unable to protect their artists from toxic fans and their dark thoughts. Another idol from SM Entertainment, Kim Jong-Hyun, committed suicide on December 18th, 2017. He was from the well known group, “Shinee”. He was found in his apartment after killing himself from inhaling toxic fumes from burning coal. In a letter he wrote, “I wanted someone to notice, but no one noticed. No one met me, so of course they don’t know I exist.”.
Goo Hara, a close friend of Sulli went onto her Instagram live to share her thoughts and to apologize that she is unable to attend her friend’s funeral. Here’s a video of her Instagram live: Goo Hara IG Live. Goo Hara was later found dead in her home in November 2019, six weeks after Sulli’s death. The police has confirmed that the cause of death was suicide after finding a suicide note.
SM Entertainment is now receiving a lot of negative attention, saying that they mistreat their employees and artists. After these two singers died, the public started to focus more on toxic fandoms and the mental health of K-Pop idols.
Sulli is most known for being a part of SM Entertainment’s girl group f(x). At the age of 11 she entered into SM Entertainmentand and started acting professinally. Later on, she debuted in f(x) when she was 15 years old. After being in f(x) for around 6 years, she started to become unhappy. “At some point, I started to realise and started to wonder why I should do this and for what I’m doing this,” she said on her reality show Jinri Store.
She decided to leave the group in August, 2015 to focus on her acting career. After this, she started to receive a lot of negative attention from netizens.
Netizens are anonymous internet users in the K-Pop industry and are known for criticizing idols for the smallest things. One instance was when Sulli posted a picture of her in a camisole (a loose tank top), a netizen commented, “You wanted to get naked so bad, huh?”.
Another example is when she kissed her close friend Goo Hara during a live broadcast, many people assumed that she was apart of the LGBTQ+ community.
An anonymous user wrote, “Are they lesbians? They’re nasty… No wonder [Choiza is her ex-boyfriend] left.”
Sulli did ask for help from her entertainment company. SM Entertainment attempted to stop these spiteful comments by tracking the IP addresses to where the comments were being posted and tried to take legal action but, their attempts were unsuccessful. The official statement read, “The malicious commenter’s IP address is registered overseas, so it is difficult to find and punish these criminals. The IP address was made temporarily just for the use of such comments, making it hard for us to catch them.”
This wasn’t the first time SM Entertainment was unable to protect their artists from toxic fans and their dark thoughts. Another idol from SM Entertainment, Kim Jong-Hyun, committed suicide on December 18th, 2017. He was from the well known group, “Shinee”. He was found in his apartment after killing himself from inhaling toxic fumes from burning coal. In a letter he wrote, “I wanted someone to notice, but no one noticed. No one met me, so of course they don’t know I exist.”.
Goo Hara, a close friend of Sulli went onto her Instagram live to share her thoughts and to apologize that she is unable to attend her friend’s funeral. Here’s a video of her Instagram live: Goo Hara IG Live. Goo Hara was later found dead in her home in November 2019, six weeks after Sulli’s death. The police has confirmed that the cause of death was suicide after finding a suicide note.
SM Entertainment is now receiving a lot of negative attention, saying that they mistreat their employees and artists. After these two singers died, the public started to focus more on toxic fandoms and the mental health of K-Pop idols.