On June 2nd, BIGHIT MUSIC announced that Jin, a member of the boy group BTS, will be hosting an offline event called “2024 FESTA” on June 13th. The event sparked controversy over the qualifications to apply for the hugging session, prompting the agency to issue an apology and stating that they will improve the application criteria.
In a statement posted on Weverse, BIGHIT MUSIC expressed regrets for the lack of clarity in the previous announcement regarding the application standards for the “2024 FESTA” offline event.
At 11 am on the 2nd, after BIGHIT MUSIC announced the application details for Jin’s offline event, the controversy over the qualifications for the hugging session began. Jin is set to be discharged on June 12th, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of BTS’ debut on June 13th. The “2024 FESTA” event organized by Jin aims to celebrate the anniversary with a hugging session involving a thousand fans.
The idea of hugging fans, also known as ARMY, was proposed by Jin himself. The “2024 FESTA” event consists of two parts: “Jin’s Greetings” where participants can have a brief hug with Jin during a 3-hour event, and a theme-based online live broadcast titled “June 13, 2024, Shining Jin” to allow fans from different regions to participate and see Jin in different settings.
However, the announcement specified that applicants must have purchased all albums (including individual albums) released after BTS’ “Proof” album from June 2022 during the application period (June 2nd to 6th) through Weverse Shop Global. This exclusion of fans who had previously purchased albums sparked controversy, as the event was intended for fans and Jin’s pre-enlistment single “The Astronaut” had already sold over a million copies. Some criticized BIGHIT MUSIC for seemingly requiring additional album purchases.
In response, BIGHIT MUSIC stated, “We will take into consideration applicants who purchased albums after the announcement and those who had bought albums before the announcement on the website, and we will improve the application standards.”
Finally, BIGHIT MUSIC apologized again, stating, “We will make every effort to convey Jin’s intentions to fans better through this event. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to fans and ask for your support and attention to Jin’s offline event on June 13th.”