ZEROSE, fans of K-pop rookie boy group ZEROBASEONE, have expressed their discontent following a recent incident involving member Ricky and a manager.
On Tuesday, October 31, Ricky initiated a solo live stream to catch up with his fans. Aside from him, fellow ZEROBASEONE members Gyuvin and Gunwook are also doing a live stream in the same room as him.
Since a single device couldn’t accommodate all three members comfortably, they decided to do a live stream simultaneously through different phones.
During the live stream, Gunwook was seen telling Ricky to check his KakaoTalk. Although Gunwook muted his live, Ricky didn’t. Which left fans able to hear that the latter was being instructed to conclude the live stream.
In response, Ricky abruptly ended his stream after apologizing to fans., “I have to end the live now, bye. I don’t think I can continue, sorry,” he said.
ricky got scolded by staff/manager during today’s lives.. he had to rush his goodbye after gw signaled gv and rk to stop the live and later manager asked ricky to come out and you could hear the manager yelling at him https://t.co/jkAZ6IggCq pic.twitter.com/svpCf5Zig6
— jia (@sillybabycat) October 31, 2023
Even though Ricky’s stream has ended, Gunwook and Gyuvin continued their live session.
And through that, fans were able to discern a series of voices, which they deduced belonged to the manager. According to fans, the manager could be heard scolding Ricky in the background, uttering phrases like: “You didn’t inform us before you started the live show” and “Do you understand what I’m saying.”
Apologize to Ricky
Recordings of the incident quickly circulated on social media, with fans deeming the manager’s reprimand as overly severe.
Many are upset at how the manager treated the idol, given that Ricky starting a stream without informing them shouldn’t be considered to be a major transgression. Additionally, some fans are also in disbelief at the manager’s brazen actions given that other ZEROBASEONE members are also present in the room.
Following the incident, fans of ZEROBASEONE and Ricky are calling for the management, particularly the group’s agency, WAKEONE, to take appropriate measures against the manager’s deeds. Moreover, some supporters have also sent complaints regarding what they view as excessive and condescending treatment toward Ricky.
We have prepared an email template to send to WAKEONE in the wake of display of cruel unprofessionalism towards Ricky.
As of now, it has been translated in English and Chinese. We await the Korean and Japanese translations and will update the document and send another notice…
— RICKY GLOBAL (@RICKYGLOBAL_) October 31, 2023
As of writing, WAKEONE Entertainment and Ricky have yet to address the issue.
Currently, ZEROBASEONE is gearing up for their upcoming comeback with Melting Point. ZEROBASEONE or ZB1 is a nine-member group formed via Boys Planet.
Aside from Ricky, the other members are Sung Han-bin, Zhang Hao, Seok Matthew, and Kim Tae-rae. Ji Woong, Kim Gyu-vin, Park Gun-wook, and Han Yu-jin are also part of the lineup.
ZB1 made their debut on July 10 with the release of their mini-album YOUTH IN THE SHADE. Shortly after, YOUTH IN THE SHADE set the record for being the best-selling debut album in K-pop history. Over 1,240,700 copies were sold in just 24 hours of sales.
Featured image: ZEROBASEONE’s Ricky updates fans with new photo. Credit: Twitter/ZEROBASEONE