Aggrieved singer (Tablo) battles nasty cyber lynching

[kpop-arsenal.livejournal.com]

 

Hip-hop was considered a genre practiced by uneducated rough-and-toughs until Korean rapper Tablo broke onto the nation’s music scene in 2003 at the age of 23. Tablo earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Stanford University, and chose music over other lucrative careers, a fact guaranteed to gain notice in an education-obsessed country like Korea.

That attention has now backlashed on Tablo. For reasons unknown, netizens have formed a cyber lynch squad, insisting that Tablo faked his education credentials. One online community - “We Want Tablo to Tell the Truth” - saw its membership soar from 30,000 to 40,000 in a couple of days earlier this week.

“I’m the type of person who loves a conspiracy theory, so I just laughed at first,” Tablo told the JoongAng Daily yesterday in his first interview with the media after the online campaign got out of control.

“I thought nobody would buy all those rumors about me because they were absurd.”

The JoongAng Daily has examined Tablo’s college records and can confirm his Stanford degrees.

The Internet witch hunt has caused Tablo and his family extreme distress, he says - made even more diabolical because he’s done nothing to cause it.

“One of my family’s home addresses was leaked onto the Internet and my brother also received about 10 threat calls. ”

During a nearly two-hour interview, Tablo sobbed when he talked about his family. Tablo, now 29, tied the knot last year with actress Kang Hye-jeong, who is famous for award-winning films such as “Oldboy” (2003) and the couple has a 6-week-old baby daughter.

“I want my mom and dad to be able to keep their chins up. Since my dad’s health is not good, I worry that this might be the last major event in his life.”

In recent years, two Korean entertainers killed themselves because of malicious postings on the Web. Actress Choi Jin-sil, once called “the dream of every man,” committed suicide in October 2008 and signer Uni in January 2007.

“I don’t care about restoring my public image,” Tablo said. “What I really want is that no one else is victimized as I have been by a combination of anonymity and malice [in cyberspace].”

According to Tablo’s original college transcript, he earned a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in English on May 4, 2001 and a Master of Arts in English on April 4, 2002, through a co-terminal program, in which students study for their master’s degree before finishing their B.A.

Asked what paper he wrote for his master’s, which is one of the biggest questions on the Internet, Tablo said: “I wrote about 20 to 30 pages of thesis for every subject. It’s not like publishing a paper [under the co-terminal program].”

The transcript also showed he earned 16 credits of advanced placement from high school and another 12 credits from summer classes at New York University, which let him finish the program in three and a half years.

The JoongAng Daily also contacted Stanford University and obtained letters confirming Tablo’s degrees. One is from Tobias Wolff, Stanford’s Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor of English, and the other from Thomas C. Black, associate vice provost of student affairs and university registrar at the college.

Wolff, a well-known author, wrote: “This is to certify that the records of both Stanford University and the English Department clearly demonstrate that Daniel Seon Woong Lee (pen name Daniel Armand Lee), now known as the musician Tablo, received from us both a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction, and a Master of Arts.”


By Sung So-young [so@joongang.co.kr]



Source: Tablo's Twitter and Joongang Daily

WTF? , netizens? Seriously? Attacking his family? O.o
Hope this his father stays healthy and all this clears up. I adore him for being so strong and facing this head first.

... HE HAS ALL A'S!!! HOLY SNAP!!!

Comments

[ai-fantasy9.livejournal.com]

same topic different article

[invalidreality.livejournal.com]

wasn't this already posted through an interview?

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

Different article.

[nisenchi.livejournal.com]

Tablo, stay strong! *A*

... his lowest grade is A-?!?!?!

[orangeinsanity.livejournal.com]

I wish I had his brain.

[aprettyeternity.livejournal.com]

....lynching.
._. uh huh.

[lonelymoon.livejournal.com]

If he were in my class and set all the curves to screw with my grades, then I'd consider lynching him. But geez all these K-pop fans are crazy. Some people are crazy talented, deal with it. If Einstein existed in these times, Koreans would probably claim he didn't discover the theory of relativity, Hasenöhrl did or something like that.

[shiddex.livejournal.com]

whatever netizens. and omg looking at his grades and where he is now. WHAT AN INSPIRATION. i feel ashamed of my results suddenly. ahahaha.

[silver-might.livejournal.com]

people need to stay away from family like this. That's just rude. Don't pick on people just because you're bitter!

I saw that on twitter just now, and I honestly felt angry for him, so I can imagine just how pissed off he must be.

[cultic.livejournal.com]

cyber "lynching"? are you fucking joking?

[kiku-cha8-8.livejournal.com]

How lame, why do the netizens pry so hard? Does it actually help anybody if he has or hasn't a Stanford degree? Sheesh.

This is how I feel about people prying about Obama's birth certificate as well :|

[bitter-sweet05.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is, there are still people prying after his birth certificate. There was even a fake Kenya one floating around the internet, and people are STILL frequently calling him things far more nasty than "The Kenyan Usurper".

I hate ignorant people. >______________<;;

???????????????

[bluebandit77.livejournal.com]

cyber-lynching??

(http://tinypic.com)

too late for this nonsense..nite ya'll

[shadow-kitty47.livejournal.com]

Netizens are just jealous of his grades.

[valyrian.livejournal.com]

Who came up with the rule that smart people can't be rappers? -__-

[caro1az.livejournal.com]

That rule does not exist...

[honeyfunnybunny.livejournal.com]

You go Tablo CoCo!

[freed-misery.livejournal.com]

Four for you (every semester *__*) Tablo CoCo!!

[harleezy-758.livejournal.com]

because apparently rappers don't go to good colleges and graduate with degrees yeeeeah.
attacking his family was just going too far.

[music3chick.livejournal.com]

lol, so I wasn't the only one wtf-ing at "lynching"

Hip-hop was considered a genre practiced by uneducated rough-and-toughs
Oh really? :|
Considered by who, I wonder.

about 10 threat calls
I would like to hear those. "I hate you because you graduated from Stanford and I'm jealous..." or "I need to get laid, but to act like I'm doing something productive with my time..."

[music3chick.livejournal.com]

And yeah, it's about time companies and entertainers start standing up to netizens. Most of the time, the media only helps the antis by copy-and-pasting the rumors into articles.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

Why do they even care about netizens? They let netizens have too much power.

[oncloud999.livejournal.com]

I agree. This will only make the netizens feel more powerful.

[tothechangmin.livejournal.com]

Why are they even going crazy over his education? Isn't it the rapping they should care about -.-
(but holy shit his grades i feel so ashamed >.>)

[ayumikoshiro.livejournal.com]

I already commented today but...

I hate A-'s they are like my nemesis worse than a B

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

I feel the same. My school just started giving out minus grades.

A- mocks me.

[jia-zhang.livejournal.com]

O_O His grades both impress and frighten me. Blo, you took Chinese? WTF.

How can people doubt this or make threats over this? Korea can be really stupid sometimes.

[soribreak.livejournal.com]

oic all A's, u r gud job blo ^__^v

[merely-a-facade.livejournal.com]

So much props to Tablo. I hope your dad gets well soon <3 ;_;

Netizens, don't you have better things in life to do? :|

[speakoslow.livejournal.com]

Korean netizens just never learn.
They make fake accusations, poison celebrities, steal social security numbers, force celebs and regular people to commit suicide. WTF is wrong with them??? Maybe they should just force Korea to shut down. Everyone can live in the dark, maybe that will make them happy and satisfied as the rest of Korea will join them in their depressing lives.

[speakoslow.livejournal.com]

And why do I get a feeling those damn netizens will still find something wrong with those records????

Thank You!

[crazyxcami.livejournal.com]

for being smart Tablo!

netizens/Antis should STFU.

[caro1az.livejournal.com]

A+ in Chinese and the Renaissance? I didn't know am A+ existed in college... and in Stanford no less... SHISUS!

[black-silver.livejournal.com]

1. HOLY JESUS WAFERS NERD BONER!!!1!!11!1

2. I really hate that they felt the need to justify these obscenely uncalled for accusations by actually calling up the institution to have them confirm his legitimacy. Doesn't that just lend credence to their unreasonable gestures? But I suppose it was best just to get it over with and shut everybody the hell up.

Ugh well, as someone else has already said, FOUR FOR YOU TABLO COCO! EVERY SEMESTER! YOU GO~!! XDDD

[spacesuitmonkey.livejournal.com]

Wow, netizens. All time low.