SHINee fan club protests agency's venue choice for upcoming meet and greet

[SM ENTERTAINMENT]

SHINee World, the fan club of boy band SHINee, is protesting against the band's agency SM Entertainment for the choice of venue for SHINee's upcoming fan meet and greet.

SHINee’s 15th-anniversary fan meet and greet, "Everyday is SHINee Day – Piece of SHINE –" is scheduled to take place on May 27 at Kintex, a convention and exhibition center in Goyang, Gyeonggi. This is the first time for all four members of SHINee to get back together since performing their military duties and focuisng on their solo careers.

Fans claim that the venue lacks a good view of the main stage, where the stars will be standing, because all the seats are laid out on flat ground, instead of having tiered seating. They say it will be especially hard to see with the large cameras set up in between the seats.

Fans have also pointed out that the tickets are non-refundable, and they are not eligible for the government’s income tax deduction for cultural life expenses because SM Entertainment did not sign up for the program.

Fans on Monday rented out trucks with digital screens to drive around SM Entertainment's headquarters with fans' complaints written on the screens. Online, over 72,000 tweets had been posted under the "SM_consumerfraud_fanmeetboycott" hashtag as of Monday.

SM Entertainment apologized but explained that the venue was chosen because it was the only available location in the time frame.

“We originally made a reservation with a venue that can hold up to 5,000 people, but we were declined due to sudden internal schedule changes at the venue,” the statement explained.

“The only available venue was Kintex Hall in Ilsan, giving us no choice but to choose it for the fan meeting venue. We hope fans understand given the circumstances.”

The agency added that they are working to provide better visibility to the concertgoers, including adding moving platforms for members to hop on while onstage and adding additional screens.

“The concert not being eligible for the government’s income tax deduction scheme on cultural life expenses is something we haven’t considered; we will take appropriate action and update the fans before the event.”

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]