The Boyz, who debuted back in 2017, managed to keep a pretty clean image for years. But recently, the members Hyunjae, Juyeon, Eric and Sunwoo have been making headlines for all wrong reasons. Over the past few months, these idols have found themselves dragged into various accusations ranging from drinking, smoking, partying with underage women, to dating rumours. And while they have tried to explain themselves multiple times, the storm keeps growing, pulling multiple high-profile names into the mess, including members of ASTRO, ATEEZ, Stray Kids, and more.
ASTRO, ATEEZ, Stray Kids and more dragged in The Boyz controversy
South Korea’s social media circles exploded when chat screenshots started surfacing on Threads, around June 10-11. The leaked chats, between female influencers, casually detailed their nights partying with famous K-pop idols, name-dropping, bragging, and sharing how they spent hours with “handsome faces who could drink just as well.”
ASTRO: Cha Eun Woo and MJ
In one screenshot, a girl gushed about partying with ASTRO members, surprised to find Eun Woo joining the night. She called MJ “f***ing handsome” and “good at drinking,” but made it clear her real pick was the Love So Fine singer: “But anyway, it’s Cha Eunwoo for me.” Another post from one of the girls, shared to a private story, read: “THE BOYZ beep beep. They’re handsome. Just handsome. But why do they keep calling me baby? I can’t drink no more. They keep saying my personality is good.” (Translated via Koreaboo/Threads). A blurry photo attached was believed to show THE BOYZ’s Hyunjae and Sangyeon at the same party.
ATEEZ: Mingi, ENHYPEN, and Stray Kids
Mingi’s name also came up in the chats. One influencer claimed he tried hiding his identity that night, introducing himself as a director at a skincare clinic. “But I really had no clue who he was then, but he was ATEEZ’s Mingi. No wonder everyone kept calling him Mingi, but I just thought he was really a director,” she wrote. The chats also dragged in HYBE’s ENHYPEN and JYP’s Stray Kids, both allegedly joining The Boyz and ATEEZ for a 10-hour party marathon. “It was legendarily fun. I wanna KMS. Sigh,” one girl wrote, while another called it “a meeting of f***ing handsome people” and summed it up simply: “Happy.”
MONSTA X’s Hyungwon And Minhyuk
Last year, the idols faced similar accusations, and now rumors claim Hyungwon’s ex-girlfriend the one he was spotted partying with that night, has moved on to The Boyz’s Sunwoo. “The girl Hyungwon from MONSTA X was dating switched over to Kim Sunwoo, so Minhyuk went to the waiting room and told Kim Sunwoo to get his act together,” one post read. Meanwhile, The Boyz’s Juyeon got tangled in dating rumors with actors Shin Si A and Roh Yoon Seo. Fans pointed to matching couple items and even claimed Juyeon stayed in the same hotel room as Roh Yoon Seo during their Shanghai trip for a Balenciaga event.
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Earlier, Sunwoo tried to address fans directly on his fan chat platform, but that made things even worse. He tried to downplay the situation, telling fans to not feed the trolls and inviting them to play a game instead. However, as backlash grew, he apologised more seriously, admitting that he spoke too lightly and saying: “The Bs, I spoke too lightly and played games without being aware of the situation, even though I didn’t fully understand what The Bs were going through… Whatever the reason, I think The Bs must be even more upset. I’m sorry, truly sorry.”
