Story by Young Rae Kim.
Korean American singer Ailee has been receiving enormous attention from the Korean media after nude photos of the K-pop star surfaced on the Internet.
Allkpop, a popular New York-based K-pop website, published censored versions of the photos last night, igniting a firestorm of controversy.
There are varying accounts surrounding the scandal and fans and news agencies have questioned the credibility of the photos.
According to Dispatch, the 24-year-old singer’s ex-boyfriend approached the celebrity news agency back in July 2013 with the nude photos and attempted to sell them. Dispatch reportedly spurned the offer, questioning the legality of such a sale.
Ailee’s agency, YMC Entertainment responded to the allegations and confirmed that Ailee was the person in the photos.
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“We’ve confirmed that those photos were taken for camera test after Ailee received a model casting offer for a famous American underwear company while she was living in the U.S.,” said YMC Entertainment in an official statement. “Ailee was told that she needed to take the nude photos for an accurate examination of her body, and she agreed to take them under the belief that since it was for a famous underwear company, all information would be secure.”
After the underwear company completely cut off ties with the singer, she became worried and contacted the police. Her agency went on to say that the police informed Ailee that she and several other models, had been involved in a scam. However, since there was a lack of evidence, no arrests were made. After the incident, Ailee reportedly confided in Daniel Lee, her boyfriend at the time, who is reportedly a current employee of allkpop. He asked to her to see the photos and she sent them to him via messaging.
However, allkpop recently issued a statement saying that Lee was not the person who posted the photos.
Allkpop received heavy backlash for breaking the story, and many K-pop fans were trying to rally support to boycott the website.
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Fellow K-pop stars have also been supportive of Ailee. Korean American and Canadian American K-pop stars such as Jay Park, G.NA and Amber have all unfollowed allkpop on Twitter in support of Ailee.
G.NA posted an Instagram photo with the quote, “Often it’s the deepest pain that empowers you to grow into your highest self” and added “Amen. Be strong.”
YMC Entertainment said it plans to take legal actions against the person who leaked the photos.
Ailee grew up in New Jersey and started her singing career on YouTube. Her powerful and soulful covers began to gain popularity over the web and she was recruited after an audition in 2010, and moved to Korea.
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This story was originally published on iamkoream.com
