Singer Sim Soo-bong, 71, is facing controversy for publicly criticizing his junior singer Kim Da-hyun, 17.
The "10th Jinan Highland Trot Festival," held on Sunday in Jinan County, North Jeolla Province, featured performances by Sim and Kim among others.
After Kim's performance concluded, Sim took the stage and sang two songs before suddenly referring to Kim as "the woman who just sang over there." Sim said of Kim,"She made my head spin," and added, "Is her manager here?" drawing attention.
Sim said, "It seems like a young lady who doesn't know what singing is or what life is," and continued, "Listening to her song was so exhausting for me. I'm saying this in front of everyone. Please don't send that performer forward again. Singing is not something to be treated so lightly."
She added, "One must experience life and endure hardships. Music that comforts those who have come all this way is not something so easy," before confessing, "I am feeling so overwhelmed right now that I have no choice but to confess this to you all. Please forgive me," and then continued his performance.
It has not been specifically revealed what aspect of Kim's performance Sim found problematic with his remarks.
At the time, it was reported that Kim finished her performance without any major mistakes and received a positive response from the audience.
In response to Sim's sudden public criticism, some netizens expressed negative reactions, accusing him of attacking his junior singer who is like his granddaughter.
They responded with comments such as, "What was the reason for humiliating her in a public setting?" "Did something happen behind the scenes on stage?" "He didn't act like an elder," and "If you didn't like the song, it should have been handled privately."
Born in 2009, Kim is the third daughter of Kim Bong-gon, known as the "Cheonghak-dong Master Teacher," and was a runner-up on MBN's "Boy Trot" broadcast in 2020.
In MBN's "Active Singer King" broadcast in 2023, Kim faced off one-on-one with singer RIN. Despite RIN making a lyric mistake, Kim lost by a overwhelming margin in the judges' scores and was seen sobbing afterward. During that judging session, Sim Soo-bong and Ju Hyun-mi chose RIN, while Nam Jin chose Kim .
Kim Da-hyun advanced to the next round through the loser's revival tournament and ultimately placed third for that season, becoming a member of TOP7.
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