Hani (OSEN)

EXID member Hani burst into tears onstage when her cohost Jun Hyun-moo kept mentioning her boyfriend at the 2016 Seoul Music Awards on Thursday.

Throughout the event, Jun made a pun about her boyfriend and JYJ member Kim Jun-su’s name.

Hani finally couldn’t control her emotions when he told her that she looked good that day. The expression he used, “good-looking,” is a homophone of Junsu’s name.

For a second, it seemed like the hosts and the crowd were laughing at the joke he made. But suddenly, Hani burst into tears and tried to avoid being caught by the camera.

2016 Seoul Music Awards (KBS)

Many noted that it was simply not the perfect timing for the singer to appear on a live television.

The night before the ceremony, Hani made her first public reaction to the news of the couple’s dating on MBC “Radio Star.” She was already scheduled to appear on the show even before the news broke, so it was difficult to backtrack. On the show, she said the shooting was a burden because she knew she would end up talking about Kim, and that would likely offend some fans of the boy band member.

But most importantly, Hani was hosting the event where the JYJ member was not invited even when he was voted the most popular ballad singer of the season. It’s likely that she was going through an emotional storm, feeling sorry for having to look happy at a venues where her boyfriend was unwelcomed.

Kim had been blocked from performing on Korean TV music shows since 2009, in part due to a contract dispute with his former entertainment agency, SM Entertainment after he left TVXQ with other JYJ members.

After years-long legal battle, JYJ and SM Entertainment agreed in 2012 not to interfere in each other’s activities. More specifically, the agency has vowed to stop leading broadcasters to blacklist the trio and allow them to make musical promotions.

But it was not entirely a bad day for Hani, with her group EXID receiving an award.

Asked who came to mind at the moment, Hani said “My fans and my parents.”

She later added, “‘He’ is receiving the popularity award today. He wasn’t able to make it here but I’m very proud of him.”






(khnews@heraldcorp.com)