“This is such a stretch”- Fans react as internet compares K-pop Demon Hunters bowing scene to NewJeans’ Hanni’s “Ignore her” controversy 

Following the release of the latest Netflix movie, K-pop Demon Hunters, several fans and netizens have been discussing the various scenes of the film in respect to the current incidents in the K-pop industry. One such scene from K-pop Demon Hunters that garnered much attention was one that allegedly mocked the bowing, strict etiquette followed by artists in the industry.

Fans began to speculate that a scene from K-pop Demon Hunters was a reference to the NewJeans Hanni controversy from September 2024. In an emergency livestream, Hanni shared that a manager from another HYBE group told their members to ignore her when they greeted each other.

The idol's confession was the talk of the town when the incident was revealed, and several people had clashing opinions on the same. While some felt that Hanni was mistreated and disrespected through the manager's actions, others expressed that the incident was not too big of a deal.

Regardless, following the release of K-pop Demon Hunters, people stated that the scene was an alleged mockery of the confession made by NewJeans' Hanni. However, several fans came to her defense and stated that this interpretation was quite a stretch and that these two incidents didn't have much in common to be compared with one another.

Here are a few fan reactions on people comparing K-pop Demon Hunters and Hanni's controversy:

"This is such a stretch," a netizen commented. "now this account is reaching lmaooo this isn't about njz" said a fan on X. "Now you know they’re running out of a story cause this show has absolutely nothing to do with new jeans lmaooo" added another fan. "How so…? The movie was animated a few years back." commented a netizen.

More fans and netizens talked about how the timelines of these two incidents of the scene from K-pop Demon Hunter and Hanni's controversy also don't seem to support the theory.

"Well.. seeing as the movie was animated years ago I don’t think they were…." stated a fan. "That's a reach. I've seen this same bow trope done on RunningMan before NJ was a thing." added an X user. "It's a common theme in kpop. Numerous idols have bowed to each other or to their variety host and had a bowing battle. Usually, someone ends up prostrate in an effort to show ultimate respect" said a netizen. "Apparently bowing is only a NJZ thing and not an Asian thing.eGet over yourselves ffs!" commented another X user.

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All you need to know about NewJeans' Hanni's "Ignore Her" controversy as netizens draw comparisons to a scene from K-pop Demon Hunters

In September last year, NewJeans members held an emergency YouTube livestream through a new YouTube channel in order to expose and confess about the alleged mistreatment they had been facing at the hands of the agency, ADOR, and HYBE.

They stated that this change in a healthy workspace had occurred due to the removal of Min Hee-jin as the CEO of ADOR, and the other management changes that took place within the company. Therefore, they also communicated that the lack of the agency's ability to meet a few of their demands would ultimately lead to the group's exit from the agency.

One of the confessions was made by NewJeans Hanni, and here's what she said,

“On the 4th floor of the HYBE building there’s a room to get hair/make up done. One day, a group and their manager passed by and we greeted each other. They came back again and I heard their manager say “ignore her”.”

Following the same, the agency and the group entered a lawsuit to discuss the conclusions of their contract.

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However, NewJeans' interest in departing the agency before the expiration of the contract was not accepted by the court. Regardless, the K-pop girl group has been on hiatus ever since their performance at the Complex Con Hong Kong in March this year. On the other hand, the discussions on the comparison between this controversy and the scene from K-pop Demon Hunters have been continuing.

Edited by Divya Singh