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Wonho left K-pop band Monsta X after South Korean TV personality Jung Da-eun claimed he had smoked marijuana with her and owed her money.
LifestyleEntertainment

#FightForWonho as Monsta X fans demand K-pop singer’s return after drug and debt rumours saw him quit

  • Hashtags #FightForWonho and #WonhoWeGotYourBack are trending on Twitter; online petition supporting Wonho’s return has 450,000 signatures
  • A crowdfunding campaign even paid for a billboard in New York’s Times Square that urges the group to stay together
K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop
SCMP Reporter
SCMP Reporter
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Fans of K-pop act Monsta X are pushing for the return of former member Wonho after the singer left the seven-member boy band earlier this month amid rumours he had smoked marijuana and has multiple bad debts.

Monsta X returned from an eight-month break in October with the launch of the new album, Follow: Find You, but the release was overshadowed by the scandal surrounding Wonho, whose real name is Lee Ho-seok.
Wonho quit the band after South Korean TV personality Jung Da-eun claimed that Wonho had smoked marijuana with her in 2013 and then posted on social media: “Wonho, when are you going to pay me back my money?”

However, since the singer left Monsta X, hashtags such as #FightForWonho and #WonhoWeGotYourBack have been trending on Twitter and a crowdfunding campaign even paid for a billboard in New York’s Times Square that urges the group to stay together.

After Wonho’s agency, Starship Entertainment, rejected Jung’s claims that the singer owed her money, she went on to further claim that the former Monsta X star had been incarcerated in a youth detention centre in the past for theft.

Wonho has been officially removed from the Monsta X website and Starship’s official site as well.

In a statement to fans, Wonho wrote that he was “apologetic for causing harm to the members due to the unfortunate issues related to me” and “reached this decision after seeing people having a hard time because of me”.

Wonho rejected TV personality Jung Da-eun’s claims that he owed her money.

Meanwhile, an online petition on Change.org in support of Monsta X and Wonho’s return to the group has so far gathered more than 450,000 signatures.

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