[Updated] Update on Zico Drunk Driving Incident—Zico wasn't drunk [Not Leaving SMTM4]

[tsubaki874.livejournal.com]

After news of Block B’s Zico being involved in a car accident caused by drunk driving came out, there has been a lot of suspicion as to whether or not Zico was guilty of any wrongdoing.

As a result, the police have shared the results of the official investigation of the car accident and have stated that Zico is free of suspicion regarding being drunk and switching seats with his manager.

The police stated that the car accident occurred the morning of July 9 when the car hit a taxi while making a u-turn near the vicinity of Cheongdam CGV.

His manager’s blood alcohol content was 0.163 percent. Besides Zico there were two other people in the car.

Since the car belonged to Zico and he was found riding in the passenger seat, the police also suspected him of having switched seats. However, their investigations proved that the rapper did not switch seats with his manager.

Gangnam’s Chief of Traffic Yoon Byung Hyun revealed, “We checked the black box and CCTV and confirmed there was no seat switching. When the accident occurred, the air bags inflated and the manager got out of the vehicle first. Then Zico got out from the passenger side. Zico was also confirmed as not being drunk.”

He clarified that the rapper will not be penalized. Because he was just a passenger, he will not be receiving any lawful punishment.

Zico’s agency Seven Seasons stated, “The accident occurred after member Park Kyung’s birthday party when Zico and his manager were on their way to the recording studio. Zico did not know his manager was drunk until after the accident and investigation.”

They continued, “He was investigated and his blood alcohol content level was revealed to be 0.000 percent at the time of the accident. He is apologetic about this regretful incident and is conscience-stricken.”

Regarding the manager, they commented, “The biggest fault is not properly maintaining our employee. We will work hard and be careful to maintain our employees better and prevent an incident like this from happening again.

Meanwhile, Zico is currently starring as a producer on Mnet’s “Show Me the Money 4.” Representatives from the show have revealed that they have not yet discussed whether or not Zico will be leaving the show yet.


According to a CJ E&M affiliate on July 11 in a statement to Sports Daily, “Zico will not be leaving ‘Show Me the Money 4.”

Previously, the rapper was involved in a drunk driving car accident, in which his manager was driving and he was riding in the passenger seat.

While Zico’s manager was intoxicated with a blood alcohol content of 0.163, Zico’s BAC was revealed to be 0.000, and he will not be receiving any legal penalties.

The CJ E&M affiliate stated, “[Zico] is seriously reflecting on and repenting the recent accident, and while we are careful to say so, we are planning for him to continue with [‘Show Me the Money 4’].”

Source: Soompi, Nate
SMTM4 released a statement, it seems no one posted it to Omona, but the link in the last sentence of the article will take you to it if you want to read their statement.
Update Source: Soompi, Joins

Comments

[hyungmoney.livejournal.com]

damn that manager was careless as hell

[huanyia.livejournal.com]

wtf why would the manager drive if he knew he was drunk???

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

wait the manager's BAC was over .1 and zico was sober?

why the fuck did he get into a passenger vehicle with a drunk man behind the wheel? he could have died.

oh and that "zico couldn't tell" excuse is weak, .1 is well and drunk

[torontok.livejournal.com]

I've seen vines of him leaving the venue and at the party and Zico looks plastered.IDK, getting in the car with a drunk when you were drunk is a lot more understandable than getting in the car sober

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

Do you think they misreported Zico's BAC then?

“He was investigated and his blood alcohol content level was revealed to be 0.000 percent at the time of the accident.

that would be more understandable. still dumb and dangerous as fuck but more understandable.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

Yeah, unless he got sober really quickly, I doubt he had a BAC of 0.00.
It's like they had a conundrum between 'Wait idol drinking bad but so is idol contributing to an accident' but went with the denying the first one.

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

especially as seven seasons reps stated zico had been drinking in their statement in the soompi article

[tungatunga.livejournal.com]

or maybe he was under influence of something else, idk, I don't buy, that he being sober sat next to drunk guy and didn't notice anything.

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

the soompi article says that seven seasons reps say that both zico and his manager had been drinking, so that's a clear falsification. i'd imagine zico might have been less drunk but he had definitely drunk enough

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

So the manager screws up, but Zico will be the one to take the fall. At least that's how it seems if they're talking about him leaving the show?

I missed the the .1-thingy. I don't know how that would look, so maybe he would be responsible. Idk.

[kanghodong.livejournal.com]

0.163

uhhhhhh... how could you not tell at this point?

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

tbh I think Zico (and the other people) weren't being as vigilant as they should've been. i don't care that he isn't legally responsible but you really need to be smarter about these things. he was completely sober and his manager was plastered. even if there were no signs of being drunk, with that amount of alcohol in his system he probably smelled. even if he didn't smell, he should've asked to make sure.

luckily no one is hurt, i don't have enough words for the manager. hits close to home bc a girl who goes the my future uni and a teacher in our area were killed by drunk drivers this week.

[mycorrhizoid.livejournal.com]

This sounds fishy considering Seven Seasons confirmed he was drunk during the initial report . . .

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

link?

[mycorrhizoid.livejournal.com]

From the first post: http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/16166421.html

Seven Seasons’ representative also shared, “After checking with both Zico and his manager, the two of them both had drinks, and the manager drove in order to get home. The manager is deeply regretful for drunk driving. We are aware that Zico does not have any major injuries. He took part in a broadcast recording yesterday (July 10).”

[petecarl.livejournal.com]

thanks! That's some messy PR. It doesn't help that their are tons of vids/pics from the party of Zico looking wasted. It would have been better for them to go with something like, "Zico had been drinking and depended upon his manager for a ride home. Due to his condition, he did not realize the manager had failed to keep himself sober enough to drive home."

idk why they're saying Zico had a 0.00 BAC, when it's perfectly acceptable for idols to talk about their drinking habits when they're not underage. it's not like they're Disney stars.

[confuqued.livejournal.com]

Was Zico intoxicated or not? If not, why the hell couldn't he drive his own car? If not, how could he not tell his manager was drunk esp with a BAC of 0.163?

Something in the milk ain't clean idc idc.

[kingpsyborg.livejournal.com]

driving drunk is like firing a gun blindly into a crowded room. if the manager was that plastered, there's no way this fuckboy didn't notice, unless he was also drunk. what bullshit. no excuse, driver or passenger.

[dalpaengi.livejournal.com]

Does their company make enough money to bribe the police? Curious ...

[kjesta.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure they don't, Seven Seasons was funded especially to keep Block B going, and they're not that successful, I think. Becoming more popular, but not raking in the cash.

[dalpaengi.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I was wondering because some people seem to be speculating that Zico's company paid the police off.

[kjesta.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I think his family's pretty well-off and he must be SS's top earner since he collaborates with quite a few people and has the most side projects, plus royalties from all the stuff he's written for Block B and some other groups, so. Still not convinced, but if anyone in SS would be up for paying off police, it'd be him.

[tsubaki874.livejournal.com]

I find it amusing how most of the comments blame Zico for getting in the car/didn't stop the manager from driving, but there was someone else also in the car that could have prevented this but also chose to stay in the car.
I mean yeah Zico is problematic, but blatantly ignoring that there were others just as much at fault as he was is ridiculous.

[algaee.livejournal.com]

that may be the case, but tbf there is no mention of whether the others in the car were also sober or drunk. i don't see any really ridiculous ignoring going on here anyway, because acknowledging another passenger, sober or not, isn't going to change what ultimately happened provided the report is true

[tsubaki874.livejournal.com]

I dunno I guess it's because I've been in Zico's shoes that I'm super defensive for him.

[algaee.livejournal.com]

i see, i hope nobody was seriously injured in your situation. frankly tho, there's something off with what's being reported and i feel that scrambling for details on the others involved to point more fingers will divert from the issue that a dui happened, and people who did not deserve to get hurt probably were.
it sux for him that he's the public figure caught in this mess, but that should have been all the more reason to be more vigilant, even as a passenger on the road. i find it hard to believe that he wouldn't be able to notice irregular driving if he were completely sober, idk

[tungatunga.livejournal.com]

Zico was reported as an owner of said car, and sober passenger sitting next to plastered guy, so it's just look strange.

[tsubaki874.livejournal.com]

Right, but this is also implying that the manager looked and acted drunk. .163 is a lot, but some people metabolize alcohol differently so to Zico, his manager could have looked totally sober when they got in the car. He could have started out with a lower BAC but as time passed being on the road, the body started to absorb more and that's what shot it up so high.

I'm just really sick of the blame game when there aren't any specifics to this report other than their BAC and who's car it was. Either way the manager was drinking and shouldn't have got behind the wheel.

[tungatunga.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, as you are his fan, but I can't accept this argument, even if someone isn't acting drunk his behaviour will change so maybe stranger wouldn't notice, but someone who knew this person sure will, unless he chose to ignore it. And I have nothing but disdain toward drunk drivers and people who enable such behaviour eg. passengers, so in my opinion any flack Zico and co. receives for this is well deserved.

[tsubaki874.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of Zico at all actually, I'm only defending him because I was in the same shoes he was

[asth77.livejournal.com]

I agree 100%.

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

if zico really had a BAC of .000 he should have been driving REGARDLESS. if I was stone cold sober and my friend only had one or two drinks I would still drive, because I'M THE SOBER ONE

seriously it's not rocket science

of course if they're lying about zico's BAC then things change

[tsubaki874.livejournal.com]

Seven Seasons originally stated that both Zico and his manager had been drinking

[algaee.livejournal.com]

lmao

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Zico isn't the only one at faut here, anyway. When you're at a party, just don't let drunk people leave it by driving...
I don't buy him being sober and letting someone drunk drive, especially if it was his car. Idk, I was already barely letting other people drive my car, and would have never trusted someone who drank. I guess the company didn't want to taint Zico's image with being drunk (or under another influence?) so they went for 0,00. Which would make him the only one able to drive (instead of manager) and idk I find it worse than being hammered and trusting someone you shouldn't (especially an authority like a manager).
Still a highly unprofessionnal and dangerous move from this manager.

[bomsnose.livejournal.com]

it's lame from everyone involved... i would understand zico not wanting to drive if the manager was sober, cause zico coul've been tired, even if not drunk plus he probably wanted to chat with his friends instead of focusing on driving. but the manager was not nearly sober, so... lame.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

I understand if Zico wanted to act like that but you check if the driver is sober and insist, it's way too dangerous to blindly trust someone, even a friend. There are people who can easily hide being drunk (I can do it lol but not to get the wheel that would be insane) but you still need to be responsible... idk. The whole thing doesn't seem right for me.

[treaclyena.livejournal.com]

i think it makes more sense that both zico and the manager were inebriated... idk how the story makes sense if zico's test shows 0.0000

[lily-of-west.livejournal.com]

At least had they confirmed he was I would have been able to say both were drunk and weren't able to make a good judgement of calling a taxi (not that it makes the situation any better) or that in his drunk state Zico wasn't aware of his manager being that drunk or drunk at all so he did what he thought was the reasonable thing and let him drive, but this?? If he indeed was sober he's more to blame than if he were drunk tbh. How are you gonna be sober and let a drunk person drive your car with you and other 2 people in it. 0.163 is hella drunk and any sober person would be able to tell that. SMH

[iigoru.livejournal.com]

I was wishfull thinking this would destroy his carreer. Zico, please, lick a donut.

[racquelle2005.livejournal.com]

the fuck is with these comments. somebody could have died. why the hell are ya'll making excuses for him .

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

Mess. Thankfully no one was killed.

[theharleyquinn.livejournal.com]

Something about this really isn't adding up

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

So is that celebrity disease or something? I'm perfectly sober, you've all been partying and drinking, but I need to be chauffeured in my own vehicle? I'll be the first to admit, I don't like Zico, but personal feeling aside, something about this doesn't sit right with me. The excuses I'm seeing just seem like flimsy excuses.

Whatever the case is, I'm glad no one was seriously injured.

[samii3104.livejournal.com]

The story adds up, people get careless especially in a group setting and group think, but it's inexcusable.

This country needs to be more vigilant against drunk driving as a society and people should being held responsible for let drunk people drive. I don't think his career should be destroyed because of it, but he should be fined and not let off the hook so easily.

[dalpaengi.livejournal.com]

This. I read additional information that wasn't even added to this post.
Whatever feelings I have about Zico....eh I don't think his company has enough money to pay the police to cover for his ass.
It was said that Zico and his manager were at two different parties.
Tbh, we just don't have enough information here to know exactly what went down but I hope that Zico learns his lesson and is more vigilant.

[pinkiikis.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. i really like his hair.
wtf driver.

[lynethia.livejournal.com]

Everybody (the drunk manager, Zico + crew, and some comments here) is a mess.