어머나...

It's been almost a month when 2PM's Jay's issue was blown out of proportions and garnered so much media and fan/non-fan attention that even I, who never gave a fluff about 2PM or Jay, wrote THREE articles about it.

But this issue has not died down. At all. It may have taken a backseat for a while...scrap that. From what I've been reading, it has not.

A quick update:

After JYP wrote the letter, 2PM fans in Korea (and to a certain extent, international fans as well) started boycotting JYPE, cause they are angry about the lack of responsibility on the part of JYPE not protecting their artiste enough. (a.k.a from a PR standpoint: their PR strategy, if any, failed big time)

So for a while, 2PM is infamously known as 1:59 PM, and banners, posters, post-its have all plastered on JYPE building and on other avenues, fans protesting 7-1=0, meaning without Jay, the other 6 is incomplete.

2PM's activities were all halted.

Then, the announcement that 2PM will continue as 6 members came out, and their fans went on a boycotting mode again, even Thai fans contributed to the boycott.

Then, there had been several people coming out to speak regarding the matter or talking about Jay, including Korean celebrities such as Boom (MC), Baek Ji Young, etc. There was even a family friend that said that Jay wants to go back to Korea but is unsure.

Then, Jay's story became news in his hometown Seattle, as fans contributed and had a plane fly by that area with the banner saying: J. What Time Is It Now? on the 28th September at exactly 2 p.m.

Then, his church had set up a forum some time ago for his fans alike to leave encouraging messages for him, etc, but they had to close it down again since anti-fans were leaving disparaging and negative comments to him.

And the latest news is that JYP had meet up with Jay in Seattle while on the way to NYC from South Korea. Speculations and more speculations arise.

Fans are crossing their fingers to hope for the best, at the same time, they are worried that JYP will tell Jay to leave 2PM forever, while JYPE insists that it was just a dinner to reminisce about old times.

You can read the stories here.



Wow.

Seeing how things have developed, I am still surprised. The entertainment world is in large, heavily contributed to by fans a.k.a audience. This shows that we humans need each other for support. Celebrities or not, they are still humans. It is a comfort to know that there are people besides family who will stand with them through thick and thin, yet I would think it is also a humbling experience. Not in terms of what they should and should not do, but rather, no man can stay a lone ranger and live. Pride gets you nowhere.

I am saddened however by the state of things, especially when anti-fans roam the virtual world as much as fans do. True, we will never be loved by everyone, but to receive hateful remarks is still heartbreaking. I am glad that Jay's church is providing support to him, and at the same time, understand why there are still anti-fans. Though I think anti-fans are seriously a waste of brain cells, I think they are also the ones who make a celebrity/artiste grow stronger. It's like the Bible saying that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character and character, hope. When you can rise above persecution gracefully, you know that you have developed a mature character. Now that is what I call greatness.