4 K-pop idols who love Jay Park, despite his scandals, from BTS’ Suga and Aespa’s Ningning, to Ateez’ Mingi, who got backlash for joining Park’s Ganadara challenge

Jay Park is one of the K-pop industry’s most influential singers and savviest businessmen. He founded two record labels, Aomg and H1ghr Music, and recently started his own soju brand, Won Soju. However, his life in the spotlight is far from unblemished. He was forced to leave his group 2PM because of leaked MySpace messages that criticised Korea and offended fans. He was even once slapped in the face by UFC fighter Brian Ortega, who got angry over his translation of comments from “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung-jung, who Park represented as part of his label. Now in another phase of his career – he recently stepped down as CEO of his two labels – Park faces controversy yet again. As part of promotions for his new single Ganadara featuring IU, Park tapped stars like Jackson Wang and Ateez’ Mingi to do the Ganadara dance challenge with him. However, this was received negatively by netizens who claimed that Park “forced” idols to participate. Whether ppl like it or not i inspire alot of their favorite idols. just cause they cheer me on doesnt mean you should take it out on them. If your a fan you shouldnt bully the person your a fan of. Think bout how that makes them feel. — JAY BUM PARK (@JAYBUMAOM) March 23, 2022 Park addressed this on Twitter by saying: “Whether people like it or not, I inspire a lot of their favourite idols. Just because they cheer me on does not mean you should take it out on them. If you’re a fan you shouldn't bully the person you’re a fan of. Think about how that makes them feel.” So who are the idols who have been inspired by Jay Park? 5 things to know about Park Seo-joon, Marvel’s next Korean star 1. BTS’ Suga Suga of BTS is often considered one of K-pop’s most talented rappers and producers. According to Soompi, while he has credited the likes of T.I. and Korean hip hop group Epik High as some of his musical influences growing up, he has also admitted to being a fan of Park. the concert that yoongi went to watch and was amazed that he was performing on the same stage was JAY PARK!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/AoENVPZ2y9 — j.me⁷ 💜 (@jaymbie) June 21, 2015 In BTS Memories of 2014, a documentary following BTS’ activities in 2014, Suga was awestruck at the concert venue where BTS was expected to perform, as he had watched Park in concert there only two years prior. “Jay Park had a concert here … Being in that hall, I’m impressed,” he said. 2. Aespa’s Ningning On the radio show Kim Shin Young’s Hope Song at Noon, Ningning of Aespa revealed that she is a huge fan of Park. When asked which celebrities outside her agency she was looking forward to meeting the most, she said, “I like Beyoncé and I want to meet Jay Park.” She even sent him a short video message, saying: “I can copy your songs and dances. I’ll continue practising a lot. If we meet, I’ll show you.” 5 K-drama actresses who married ultra-rich husbands 3. Victon’s Seungwoo In an interview with Esquire magazine in 2020, Seungwoo, lead rapper and lead vocalist of Victon, revealed that he considers Park as his role model in music. “Jay Park is an artist I’ve liked for a long time. It’s not that I want to become a famous singer like Jay Park, but I want to be able to create things, one by one, using nothing but my own strength, just like Jay Park did.” 4. Ateez’ Mingi Ateez’ Mingi has been a fan of Park since before he was an idol. As a contestant on the K-pop reality show Mixnine in 2017, Mingi revealed that he looks up to two K-pop veterans: Rain and Park. Mingi said he admires Park’s ability to have fun with music. The two finally met in 2022 to dance to Park’s song Ganadara together. Inside Crash Landing on You co-stars Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin’s wedding joy View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jay Park (박재범) 🇰🇷 (@moresojuplease) When the challenged received backlash, Park defended Mingi and assured fans on Twitter that he was doing well despite the negative attention: “Checked with little brother and he's good, so back to regular scheduled programming. Anyway who do you think my next reels partner is going to be?” Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.