Was Red Velvet's Seulgi Really a School Bully? Here is a Fact Check

An anonymous netizen claimed to be Seulgi's classmate posted series of messages online claiming that the Kpop star was a bully when she was studying in SOPA. Here is the truth

Red Velvet's Seulgi is in news as posts of her being a school bully are being spread widely on social media. But her fans have refuted these claims and have said that Seulgi is known to be a person who stands for the victims of bullying. Here are details that answer the question if Seulgi is a bully.

The news became talk of Kpop fan platforms after a netizen posted several messages claiming that she can prove that Seulgi was a bully. Without naming herself, the netizen stated that she was a classmate of Seulgi at School of Performing Arts (SOPA) in Seoul.

Kang Seul Gi
Seulgi of Red Velvet Kpop band. Instagram

Anonymous SOPA Classmate's Claims

The so called anonymous classmate of Seulgi refrained from using Seulgi's name instead she said that it the posts were about a Kpop idol KSG from S agency. It did not take much time for the fans to figure out it was about Seulgi because her official name is Kang Seul Gi (KSG) and she is represented by SM Entertainment.

She claimed that Seulgi would demand money from the classmates and also had beaten her up in the school. To prove her claims she uploaded an image and stated that it was clicked in 2013 during graduation at SOPA. Another proof she gave was a picture of medicine pack and said that she was allegedly taking the pills for depression following the trauma after being bullied by Seulgi.

The Fact

When tried to check the authenticity of the claims and proofs provided by the anonymous netizen, it was found that they were fake. The image of graduation shared by the netizen was indeed from SOPA. But it had nothing to do with Seulgi as the photo was uploaded by a SOPA student in 2019 on Instagram [showed the reverse image search on Google]. Thus the first claim falls flat as she might not have even been in SOPA in 2013.

Anonymous
Picture shared by SOPA student claiming it to be from 2013.
SOPA student
Real image shared by a SOPA student on February 2019. Instagram

The second proof too did not substantiate the netizen's claims. One of the medicines shown in the photograph is identified as Erdosteine which is taken to treat bronchitis and has nothing to do with treating depression.

In addition, by 2013 Seulgi was introduced to the public through SM entertainment's pre-debut project. She was a trainee at the agency since 2007. In 2013 she was not even attending classes at SOPA due to her tight schedule. Seulgi made her official debut on Aug. 1, 2014 as a member of Red Velvet.

After these facts were made public, the netizen deleted all the messages posted against Seulgi from the handle. But fans have requested SM Entertainment to trace the netizen and take legal action so that this becomes a lesson for netizens who use fake messages including bullying allegations and posts online to defame Kpop idols.