The 20th Breast Cancer Awareness Charity Event by W кσяєα, held on the 15th, has become the center of criticism over the past three to four days due to its inappropriate content.

The issues being criticized include: it was no different from a regular celebrity social gathering; there was no dress code requiring pink attire or ribbons – the signature symbols of the campaign; there were no educational or awareness-raising activities related to вяєαѕт ¢αи¢єя prevention, apart from allowing celebrities to chat, drink, dance, and use one вяєαѕт ¢αи¢єя–related hashtag in their promotional social media posts.

In addition, the lack of transparency regarding the donation funds collected from brands (approximately 1 billion won per year) compared to the amount this campaign has donated to the кσяєα Breast Cancer Foundation from 2007 to 2025 – about 1.1 billion won over 20 years – has further fueled public outrage.

When the controversy broke out, W кσяєα refused to provide any explanation. For the next three days, they remained completely silent on the matter, even continuing to post celebrity photos on their official SNS accounts, which only intensified public anger.

It was only on October 19, when public outrage had grown so severe that W кσяєα could no longer remain silent, that they… deleted all related content from their official website and social media platforms. The fashion magazine also posted a letter admitting that they had “failed to consider the feelings of вяєαѕт ¢αи¢єя patients and their families” and apologized “for causing discomfort and distress.”

Specifically, W кσяєα wrote in their post:

However, this apology was not fully accepted by the public, especially by fans of the celebrities. This stems from the fact that when the event was criticized, around 90 celebrities who attended it were also dragged into the controversy, with some even taking the blame in place of W кσяєα.

In particular, the three BTS members were among the main targets of verbal abuse and slander, as they were the most famous attendees and were “honored” with multiple photos and videos posted by W кσяєα, even appearing as thumbnails in the event posts. Moreover, haters took advantage of this situation to create further negative news aiming to damage the reputation and integrity of RM, j-hope, and V. The BTS members were deeply hurt by actions that were not their fault.

Yet, the organizers did not issue a single word in defense of the idols, nor did they express any remorse toward the celebrities they had exploited. W кσяєα’s letter has been deemed insincere, unconvincing, and irresponsible.

ARMYs expressed their anger, questioning who would compensate BTS members for all the unjust criticism they have endured over the past few days. On social media, fans have shown strong reactions to the magazine’s latest move:

- Issuing an apology 3 days after the idols especially BTS members took the brunt of your incompetence. This is such a blanket apology and does nothing for the cause or for the idols that were denigrated for days. Why should they take the fall for your poor organization?

- Issuing an apology days after idols faced the backlash from your ineptitude. This fake αѕѕ apology doesn’t even address the real issue or the damage done. Why should are artist suffer for your lack of proper organization? So unprofessional

- Let’s talk about how W кσяєα selectively deleted videos of certain attendees but kept the videos of BTS members up for days. Apologize to Taehyung, Namjoon and Hoseok!!

- I hate them sm. Took them 3 days to apologize but the damage has been done already. The amount of dr4g posts Taehyung, Namjoon and Hoseok received just by attending is frustrating, ¢υяѕє them in korean way

- @wkorea apologize to Taehyung,  Namjoon and Hoseok. Exploiting BTS’s fame to make money, then running away when the backlash нιтs so they have to take the blame for soмєтнing they didn’t do — and when finally called out, showing no remorse toward them, not even a single apology? 

- The least you can do is a proper and sincere apology to the members of BTS Taehyung, namjoon and hoseok and especially taehyung for the backlash he had to go through because of those dumb, uneducated kpopies.

- they literally sat there and watched bts and so many other innocent artists get dragged through the mud for no reason im so tired

- They gotta actually apologize to Taehyung, Namjoon, Hobi who were exploited by them, unintentionally dragged into the mess they created, and have had to endure the public backlash on their behalf for the past four days.

- after the amount of sнιтs BTS members and other idols have faced this вιт¢н have the guts to apologize? if you do that the very first time that the people are being vile and rude, this idols will didn't faced this enough ŕäċïṩṃ, xenophobia, even the r#pe and ѕєχual jokes

- chatgpt αѕѕ apology. not a single mention of them money laundering. Nothing for aespa and bts who caught all the hate for their stupid event. i hope aespa and taehyung sue wkorea