The breast cancer awareness campaign Love Your W 2025, hosted by fashion magazine W Korea (W Korea), has been embroiled in controversy over a "celebrity drinking party," and the fallout is spreading to innocent entertainers. Since the event, attendees including Park Jae-beom, Hyeri and Cho Sae-ho have become targets of criticism one after another.
Held on the 15th at a hotel in Seoul, the event was W Korea's flagship campaign marking its 20th anniversary this year. The event originally began to raise awareness of the importance of early breast cancer screening and to help cover treatment costs for low-income patients. However, this time its original meaning was overshadowed, and it was criticized for having degenerated into a "celebrity party" where entertainers and influencers dressed up and attended.
Particularly, singer Park Jae-beom's performance became the spark of the controversy. He performed his hit song "Body," and the song's lyrics include expressions that directly describe women's bodies, leading to a flood of criticism that it was inappropriate for a breast cancer awareness campaign. Park Jae-beom apologized, saying, "I performed for free with good intentions, but I apologize if I caused discomfort." He added that "it was an afterparty performance and I hope that good intentions are not misused."
But the organizers, W Korea, aggravated the situation with a slow response. The official statement was issued only after four days, and it was posted with the SNS comment section closed, drawing continued criticism as an "insincere apology." In this process, actress Hyeri, who was entirely unrelated, suffered unexpected malicious comments. That was because the last post W Korea's official account made before the apology was Hyeri's pictorial video.
When the comment section was closed, some netizens flocked to Hyeri's posts and left protest comments such as "What does closing the comments and apologizing even mean?", "Hope they get a tax audit", and "They posted an apology and then hid." Other internet users urged restraint from excessive malicious comments, saying, "Hate is another form of violence" and "Criticism should be aimed at the organizers, criticizing Hyeri has crossed the line."
The fallout also spread to comedian Cho Sae-ho. He appeared in the event video raising a glass with actor Lee Dong-hwi and BLACKPINK's Rosé, and some internet users poured out criticism, saying, "A drinking party at a breast cancer campaign?" In particular, when it became known that Cho Sae-ho was scheduled to appear with Park Mi-sun, who overcame a battle with breast cancer, on her comeback show "You Quiz on the Block," comments even appeared asking, "How can you view Park Mi-sun with a clear conscience?"
However, some argue that "Cho Sae-ho and Hyeri were merely invited attendees, not event planners or the main performers," and that "the direction of criticism is straying from the essence," warning against excessive witch hunts. Industry insiders also said, "Most celebrities participate unpaid as part of collaborations with magazines or brand relationships," adding, "It's too harsh to vilify people who believed in the good cause and took part."
This incident is not only a case in which a public interest campaign to improve breast cancer awareness lost credibility due to a "party controversy," but it has also become an opportunity to reflect on the overheated culture of online denunciation. While criticism is necessary, there are continued calls that a mature and balanced criticism culture is urgently needed so the arrows of criticism do not strike the wrong people.
[Photo] OSEN DB, W Korea
[OSEN]