AfreecaTV streamer explains viral footage with HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk

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AfreecaTV streamer explains viral footage with HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk

Published: 12 Aug. 2024, 15:30

Streamer Se Yeon [SCREEN CAPTURE]

AfreecaTV streamer Se Yeon cleared the air around the viral footage of her and HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk crossing a street together at Beverly Hills, saying that the encounter was purely casual.

“Bang just accompanied us to a restaurant that day,” said Se Yeon in a livestream on Sunday. “How could such a busy person be following us around?”

The footage went viral on Wednesday when a video of Bang, Se Yeon and her sister walking together in Beverly Hills was uploaded on YouTube channel “I am WalKing.” Another photo of Bang taking pictures of the streamer’s sister also began circulating at the time.

Online users expressed anger over the video and photo, claiming the executive “has better things to do.” Comments under the viral video include “The money ARMYs [BTS's fan club] paid went to a streamer,” “Now I get why Min Hee-jin was pissed” and “Look at their eyes shake when they notice the camera, it’s funny they knew they were caught."

“A lot of people seemed to believe that the encounter was by chance, due to some media reports,” said the streamer. “There was this one restaurant where it's really hard to get a reservation, and the chairman helped us get a spot. He said we can get a seat if we go together, and he gladly decided to accompany us there.”

The streamer said on Sunday that she and Bang knew each other since last year through her sister. Se Yeon first got to know Bang when an anonymous person claiming to be a HYBE official approached her online last year, talking “about weird things that weren’t work related.”

“I asked my sister, who knew Bang beforehand, to ask him to verify the person,” said Se Yeon. “It turned out to be an impostor.” HYBE took legal measures and the impostor was imprisoned.

It is not yet known how her sister knows Bang.

“As for the photo of Bang taking pictures of my sister, I knew of it later as well,” said Se Yeon. “It was Bang telling my sister where to take the picture to make it look good while I was in the bathroom.”

“It is all just funny,” said the streamer about the reactions to the viral footage. The streamer said she “feels like a celebrity" with "so many people" watching her streams.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]