Produce 101 Update: PD admits to manipulating show, reportedly got sexual favors from agencies +more

[juhli.livejournal.com]

SBS Reports Produce 101 PD Ahn Joon Young Admits To Manipulating Rankings For “Produce 48” And “Produce X 101”

On November 5, two arrest warrants for production staff of “Produce X 101” were issued, including one for the show’s PD Ahn Joon Young. (SBS reported that the police had requested an arrest warrant for Ahn Joon Young and other producers after the producers tried to destroy evidence like mobile phone messages and related materials.)

Ahn Joon Young is a PD under CJ ENM who has supervised several survival programs at Mnet between 2010 and 2019. He has worked on all four seasons of “Produce 101,” including the most recent “Produce X 101.”

SBS reports that during police questioning, Ahn Joon Young admitted to the suspicions of manipulating the rankings of “Produce X 101” and “Produce 48.” He denied the suspicions of manipulation of the first and second seasons of “Produce 101.”

Ahn Joon Young has been arrested on suspicions such as fraud and breach of trust by taking bribery. According to SBS, the police have found that starting from the second half of last year, Ahn Joon Young has been entertained over 40 times at an adult entertainment establishment in Gangnam, paid for by agencies. The total amount spent for this is said to be over 100 million won (approximately $86,355). It has not been confirmed whether the agencies in question are related to idols that benefited from the ranking manipulation.

In addition to the searches and seizures that were conducted on CJ ENM for suspicions of vote manipulation for “Idol School” last month, additional searches and seizures on CJ ENM and an entertainment agency took place on November 5. According to MoneyS, this is the first time that the agency in question was searched and seized. The agency houses a trainee whose ranking is suspected of having been manipulated.

Other than Produce X 101 PDs Ahn Joon Young and Chief Producer "Kim", the police also requested arrest warrants for PD "Lee" and Starship Entertainment’s vice president “Kim”, which were not approved. (This means that they will not have to wait for their trial in jail).


source: koreanasia, soompi 2 3, sbs, naver 2

Comments

[amari-sakura.livejournal.com]

Omg that is scary! Suddenly, it made me wonder if there were vote manipulations for Wanna One and I.O.I back then... I hope not.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

He denied that the first two seasons were rigged. Not sure about the second one but I can see that the first one was completely voted by the fans because no one expected the show plus IOI to become so popular.

[myungung.livejournal.com]

for IOI it would be hard to trace who had been manipulated though, considering there weren't many surprises and those that weren't predicted at the start had a consistent/organic rise

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

we been knew

[juhli.livejournal.com]

I'd be surprised if the corruption stopped at this PD...it's hard to believe that mnet or cjem or some kind of board or supervisor of those two PDs did not know.

[bauci.livejournal.com]

Trash

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

oof. now pay compensation to the trainees who got screwed over.

[myungung.livejournal.com]

this does not bode well for iz*one and x1 I suppose. and I hope they never release the name of the agency and trainee that had ranking manipulated, because it would probably haunt that idol for the rest of his/her career.

but wow at the truth coming out easily. shit is getting real man, but I guess it's been a long time coming. also, starship is involved too, not the best of times for their company.

[hallyujah.livejournal.com]

I think that Minhyuk guy or w/e his name was, was screwed out of a top 11 placing. He was sooooo bad yet he always was #1 or #2 in the vote pretty much and then final tally he finished 1 position outside the top 11. I think they knew he couldn't do any choreo and they didn't want him in the final group so they orchestrated his demise tbh

Edit: Mingyu is his name and here's his fancam to NCT's Boss. Lmaooo he's terrible, yet placed #2 overall after this week. I think he was the one who got robbed a spot.

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

I personally think his company may have asked to pull him out of the debut line cause he can just ride on that produce fame and do modeling and cfs (which is where all the money is at) without the hassle of promoting an album. And yeah, a part of the public would have destroyd him for not being "up to standard", so in a way, he kind of got the better deal imo.

[hallyujah.livejournal.com]

Oh interesting. I woulda been content just to be in the background and collect those paycheques lol. And when I eventually improved I could benefit from the "Oppa has worked so hard!!" storyline ha.

[swhyeon1991.livejournal.com]

He's like super bad but I was still rooting for him anyway lmfao but I'm actually glad that he didn't make it because his current career trajectory now is way better tbh boy keeps getting booked left and right!!

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

starship is involved too, not the best of times for their company

makes you wonder if they're the ones that threw monsta x under the bus to distract from this

[cxxl.livejournal.com]

This went from fans being unhappy at potential rigging to companies bribing PD’s with sexual favors for spots (and everything in between). 86,000+ (in USD) and potential human rights violations (a la Idol school controversy).
Anyway he is nothing but a sacrificial lamb at this point. I doubt MNET didn’t know what the tea was, or that he was the only one enjoying that. And we likely not going to get any other companies exposed because of this, unless ole boy starts singing like the trainees on the show. Starship seems to be the fluke at the moment (which makes the Wonho situation a lot more clear, they weren’t trying to deal with him and this at the same time).

As for the groups in question: hate it for them. they didn’t do anything wrong except get chosen by the right companies at the wrong time. Yet at the same time, there are trainees that were robbed of their spot because their company couldn’t pay for it. Now how many of the PD48 trainees are truly successful? Some got their debut. Some are still waiting. There is a disparity between them and iZone. While I don’t think most of them would have made it (the General consensus is that a majority of the robbed girls were Japanese and Kaeun), I would be burned up if this got to me while I’m trying to pull an audience with my group in nugudom.

[baekpedaling.livejournal.com]

Starship kicking out Wonho when they have the biggest scandal of all

[coyote-revolver.livejournal.com]

I mean, all the 'higher-ups' involved should face charges, but I guess he's going to be the sacrificial lamb.

I have mixed feelings bc PD48 was obviously rigged and it was infuriating seeing hardcore fans deny it, but on the other hand all the trainees (even the ones who debuted), who gave it all physically and mentally, were pretty much pawns for this criminals.

I think the fandoms will not stop supporting both IZ*ONE and X1 so I'm just worried about how the members might take this personally and feel guilty or sth, when it wasn't their fault at all :( but I really would like to see some kind of justice for the trainees who would have made it if not for the foul play :/

[dongsaengkiller.livejournal.com]

Dirty bastard

[rainstormraider.livejournal.com]

I honestly believe this has most likely been going on from the start of P101 but only ramped up to these disgusting levels during the last season.

[suggestivepeach.livejournal.com]

Gross piece of garbage. Ofc I feel bad for trainees that got screwed over, but I do also feel bad for x1 and Izone. I don’t think either group will be too negatively affected by this, but it’s something that will hang over their heads for the rest of their careers.

[goldenrosalie.livejournal.com]

i'm still puzzled by the fact that they not only directly rigged numbers but also left paper trail. mnet always manipulated viewers via giving/not giving screentime + "evil" editing. you'd think this is more than enough but instead they chose this 1IQ con.
i can't help but think that police being all up in arms and arresting pd is ridic when there is bigger fish to fry but after his "healthy p*rn" comments - that's what he deserves! leave him in jail and throw away keys.

[juhli.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it only got attention because of how OBVIOUS they were about it.

Oh, btw, the healthy porn guy is someone different!

[goldenrosalie.livejournal.com]

oh i wonder what his position was then because i remember it being pd. probably producer that is in charge of something else? but thank you for correcting me.

[juhli.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was a guy called Han Dong Chul, i think he was the executive producer. He left after the first season and joined YG, where he then did Mixnine.

[goldenrosalie.livejournal.com]

so that's who he was! thank you for info, i was wondering if he was booked along with this pd, i didn't even realize he was there only for s1.

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

oh it was another guy? bc i tweeted that he deserves it after his porn comment. eeeh.

[gigabytexx.livejournal.com]

No matter how unfair this is, but I dont want the current X1 to disband though. Just punish the PD and pay compensation to the members who got robbed and continue with the show.

[kenziekinz09.livejournal.com]

I’ll forever be bitter over pd48.

[ashdevilrun23.livejournal.com]

Jfc expose everyone who was involved and they better get jail time
And to be fair the last 2 groups should disband it’s not fair for all the victims :/

[xoxkenzxox.livejournal.com]

I got scared for a moment that it was the idol contestants that provided the "entertainment". thankfully it doesn't read as such.

[aures.livejournal.com]

over 40 times in half a yer? thats like twice a week wow

[mntsuklaa.livejournal.com]

I never watched the show itself but I very much love X1 and I feel so bad for all the boys, they weren't the ones who did this but they're probably going to be the ones to get most of the shit. :(

[accioanime.livejournal.com]

not surprised Starship is involved.... it's the only company that had a trainee make it to the group in every single season. Still can't believe that 14 year old kid Wonyong got number 1 position despite being mediocre as hell. I wouldn't be surprised if her ranking was manipulated so Starship gets a center position for once. Still, a part of me feels bad if it gets revealed to be her. poor girl is only 15 and will be blamed for the actions of older, powerful men.