#godokgo

Laugh all you like, whenever you like... whatever makes you feel better. I shouldn’t waste my time with asks like this, but I’m still taking it all pretty seriously (except for that trolling attempt on me this morning, that was fun) so yeah, I’ll bite… I’ll give you an earnest reply.

We’ve all seen it. Over the last few weeks the fandom has migrated away from Seungri in droves, which itself is unprecedented. Never before have I seen such an abandoning. But I think you might be misunderstanding why so many fans have turned away, including many of his own. That or you’re missing the point.

Let me get this out of the way first: yes, in the beginning I was fighting hard for the presumption of innocence. While I was always tentatively open to the idea that some of the accusations could be true (because no matter how much we think we know these guys, we don’t know them), I wanted people to wait until we had more to go by. The investigation was just getting started at the time. Seungri hadn’t been booked for anything yet, and the chats hadn’t been confirmed as real.

Well, now we have more. So much more. We have more than any of us ever expected. And it’s not getting better… it’s getting worse.

That said… “proven innocent”. If only it was that simple. Courts don’t prove innocence; what they will do is find him guilty or not guilty. “Not guilty” doesn’t mean innocent; strictly speaking, it means there isn’t enough evidence to convict him. If that happens, it then comes down to the trust we have in him and how well we think we know him. The sad truth is that while there was once a time when I might have believed in his innocence, that time has passed. Given recent reports of destruction of evidence (changing phones, everyone except JJY exiting the chats in a coordinated manner, leaving the data there to disappear), there will always be doubt. Always. And I’m not confident that this doubt can be overcome. Seungri himself has addressed this already: “the issues that I caused a societal disturbance with are too major.”

Too major. His words, not mine.

Do you understand the gravity of this situation? Do you really? The men in these chats – Seungri’s circle of friends – have likened the women they slept with, some of whom they drugged and raped, to comfort women (yes, new reports have revealed that this goes beyond simply filming and distributing without consent, as if that wasn’t bad enough). Do you know what a charged topic that is in Korea? They might as well have called them sex slaves. We don’t know yet if Seungri was in that chat, but the fact remains that these are people he fostered bonds of friendship with for years, keeping in close contact with them until as recently as last month. His name is irreparably tied to them. I'm not normally one of those "guilty by association" types, but I can't turn a blind eye any longer. I have to question why he stayed. For him, I’m afraid complete innocence has gone out the window, across the rooftops, run away… to quote Duran Duran.

Here’s the deal. Throughout the course of this investigation, we as a fandom have seen enough. No, not everything… but enough. While Seungri might not be guilty of every allegation against him, his involvement brands him as far from innocent. And as such, we no longer need a court verdict to tell us that, if nothing else, his time in Big Bang has come to an end. I don’t give a damn about what he does with his life in the aftermath, as an individual. If he’s guilty, I hope he faces the consequences and comes out a better person. If he’s not guilty, I hope he can pick up whatever is left of his life and carry on in peace without further harassment from the public.

But we VIPs… this isn't our fight anymore. This isn't a decision we need to make for him. Because Seungri already made it for us.

Remember? He retired. And in doing so, I believe he told us all we needed to know. This controversy has grown too great to overcome. On the financial front, it’s become an international affair – Korean police have called on authorities from China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong to aid in the investigation. On the sexual side, it hits right at the heart of some of the most heated issues we as women face today: misogyny, sex crimes, and women’s rights. As far as Seungri’s entertainment career is concerned, with a fanbase that's overwhelmingly women... realistically, I just don’t think there’s any coming back from this. And I think Seungri was aware of this. He knows things we don't; things we likely never will. So he acted accordingly and removed himself from the equation before any more damage could be done to Big Bang’s reputation.

And to that I say, good on him. I’ve always said he’s smarter than we give him credit for. Seungri saw his downfall in the near distance, coming for him fast and furious, and he accepted it. Oh, sure, he’s still fighting for his freedom, but his time as a singer… that’s history. At least for the foreseeable future.

재 동생의 노래 입니다. 여러분, 우리 원재 많이 사랑해주세요

This is my younger brother’s song. Guys, give lots of love to Wonjae