A major star-studded breast cancer charity event went all wrong in South Korea this week. Attended by the likes of top celebrities, including BTS members, Jay Park and many other popular idol group artists, the event was hosted by fashion magazine W Korea on October 15 KST.

The 20th Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign Charity Event attracted a massive gathering of fan-favourite K-pop idols to a hotel in Seoul. And somehow, a ceremony that was all about championing breast cancer survivors and raising awareness along those solemn lines soon became all about glam and glitz.

“Celebrities dressed to the nines have gathered here at W’s gala dinner,” the official Instagram page of W Korea captioned a video from the scene. From BTS’ J-Hope, V and RM, aespa, IVE’s Jang Wonyoung, Jeon Somi, Stray Kids’ Bang Chan and Seungmin, ENHYPEN’s Jake, Sunghoon and Jungwon, TXT’s Soobin, MONSTA X’s Shownu and Hyungwon, BIGBANG’s Taeyang and many such singing talents were caught on camera enjoying themselves and their fellow celebrity-focussed company at the gala.

Rising and veteran actors Lee Dong Hwi, Lee Jun Ho, Lee Soo Hyuk, Lee Chae Min, Park Eun Bin, Choo Young Woo, Park Gyu Young, Gong Myung, Byeon Woo Seok, Moon So Ri, Ha Jung Woo and countless others were also snapped at the location.

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Fans hit out at W Korea for generating severely low breast cancer funds in the past 20 yrs

But that’s exactly what ticked off netizens the most. The W Korea magazine charity event has been up and running on an annual basis since 2006. Despite having been making rounds each year since then, fans were severely disappointed in the event, which uses the slogan ‘LOVE YOUR W,” to have only amassed a cumulative donation of 1.1 billion Korean won ($775,000) over the past two decades, as per the magazine’s website.

W Korea writes, ”Love Your W’ is one of the largest charity events in Korea, organized by W Korea magazine. Through its gala dinners and parties, the event raises funds to support the Korea Breast Health Foundation and helps cover the cost of screenings and treatments for women and low-income individuals through participatory campaigns.

“Over the past twenty years, the campaign has donated a total of ₩1.1 billion KRW and provided around 500 readers with opportunities to receive specialized health screenings for women,” as per the English translation.

Jay Park’s Mommae performance at W Korea breast cancer event under fire

Making matters even worse, controversial artist Jay Park was also at the W Korea breast cancer awareness event. Sharing the space with his industry colleagues having a good time, the South Korean singer belted out the notes of his exceedingly-famous, but equally controversial, song “Mommae,” which features suggestive lyrics alluding to the female body.

As also relayed by K-media outlet The Chosun Daily, W Korea removed his performance video within less than half-an-hour of having uploaded it. The singer, too, did his bit and issued an apology of sorts via his SNS account.

“If any cancer patients were offended by my performance, I sincerely apologise,” he wrote in an Instagram Story on Thursday. “After the formal breast cancer campaign event, I performed during the after-party for those who gathered with good intentions despite their busy schedules. I understood the performance as something for those present and performed as I normally do.”

He further wrote, “To anyone undergoing cancer treatment who felt uncomfortable or offended by my performance, I sincerely apologize. I wish you good health. Though I was injured, I performed with a good heart, without payment. Please don’t twist that good intention.”

Misplaced priorities questioned

With W Korea posting regular updates and footage of the cancer charity event on its official Instagram, K-pop fans couldn’t help but notice that the entire event ended up revolving around the glamorous lives of some of the biggest celebrities from the industry. The symbolic pink ribbon associated with breast cancer awareness remained noticeably absent in publicly available visuals of the event held at the Four Seasons Hotel.

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Ultimately, with the event emerging as a “private social gathering,” netizens expressed their disappointment with how stars remained “out of touch” and hyper-focussed on the extravagant party mood as opposed to cancer patients having to exercise restraint while managing strict diets in addition to steering clear of alcohol altogether.

Some even drew comparisons between artists from the West and those from South Korea, turning their attention to how Selena Gomez’s Rare Impact Fund, which launched merely five years ago, had already impacted millions of people.

According to its official website, the singer-actor’s commitment to addressing mental health and self-acceptance has mobilised “$100 million in contributions for youth mental health.” Just earlier this month, it was reported that the mission had raised over $20 million and supported 30 organisations across five continents.

Someone tweeted on X: “Apparently they only managed to gather 1 billion wons in YEARS. they just wear their fancy clothes, pose for the cameras and drink champagne and make it seem like it’s another fashion event, but it’s actually for BREAST CANCER AWARENESS!! truly disappointing.”

Another added, “This event was so shameless, every celebrities who attended + w korea should be held accountable, this is not only disrespectful to victims of breast cancer but it’s just so tone deaf!”

Comments like “This whole time I thought W Korea was just another fancy gathering for celebs…turns out it’s a charity event for breast cancer” further proved that the event failed to achieve the actual goal it promised.

Yet another wrote, “Shameless W Korea. How does a drinking party relate to a breast cancer awareness campaign? ??” A fifth user said, “You know what’s wild? Alcohol increases breast cancer risk, yet they showed up to a breast cancer awareness event and drank until they were tipsy. The lack of awareness is louder than the music they were dancing to.”

And one more comment read, “it’s even more tragic how not a single celebrity seemed to remember this was supposed to be a breast cancer awareness event. they showed up in luxury fits, sipped champagne, vibed to music and turning the event into their own met gala afterparty. really peak tone deaf behaviour.”

One heavily-liked comment stated, “With all due respect to the people who participated in the event, this seems very superficial. There are better ways to approach awareness-raising in a dynamic way. Here, it seems more like a social or networking party, detracting from the seriousness and purpose of the event.”