Let’s discuss libel by implication!

Yeah. You see that up there? That’s what’s called “libel by implication“–they’re hitting that one dead center as they pat themselves on the back for cleverly avoiding it.

What is being implied here? That Zico is missing shows because of criticism about the Burning Sun scandal.

This is obviously not true, and not just because Zico was never actually implicated in Burning Sun. The criticism of Zico was about the golden phone scandal, and that was a huge deal in Korea five years ago, with a bit of a preview scandal three years before that.

The fact that a bunch of random Westerners are just now discovering Burning Sun is not actually relevant to Zico’s career in Korea. Rest assured, Koreans experienced wall-to-wall coverage of the whole business back in 2019. They have had plenty of time to assess who was and was not actually involved in it. None of this is news to them.

Angry Koreans hate on Zico two days ago.

It’s also obviously true that Zico has been having throat problems, and he apologized for them both at and after the concert above.

So, we’re meeting a lot of the standards for libel here, at least according to U.S. law. I’m sure the people who wrote that headline would point frantically to the wording “due to vocal cord inflammation” and would argue that if you read the whole thing just right, you would realize that they’re not actually saying that Zico is cancelling shows because of the criticism. There just happens to be all this criticism around, and they just happen to be taking note of it in the context of Zico cancelling performances. In the headline.

We used to joke about this at journalism school. “Fred’s from Chicago. The mafia’s in Chicago!” wink-wink nudge-nudge “No I swear this isn’t libel!”

Anyway, not that I actually expect these losers to get sued, but…they’re not being remotely responsible. The K-Pop press in general massively sucks rocks, and these guys are no exception.

ETA: AllKPop can’t let a single bad idea pass them by, can they? Anyway, here’s a friendly reminder that they once published revenge porn.

EATA: Oh, look, he’s right back on stage! I’ll be eagerly anticipating the “Zico Returns to Normal Schedule Due to Not Actually Being Implicated in Burning Sun” headlines now.