Popular audition program producers arrested for vote-fixing
The logo of CJ ENM is seen in front of the company building in western Seoul, Tuesday. Two producers of Mnet, a music channel owned by the company, were arrested on the day for a vote-fixing scandal involving K-pop audition series “Produce X 101.” / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-heun
By Kim Jae-heun
Two producers of popular K-pop group audition show series “Produce X 101” have been arrested for manipulating votes from the public. Their arrest implies it is highly likely that the text message-based voting system for the idol competitions had been rigged, raising questions over the fairness of other similar audition programs.
The Seoul Central District Court issued arrest warrants for the producers Ahn Joon-young and Kim Yong-bum of cable channel Mnet, late Tuesday.
“Considering the suspects' roles in the crime, their positions in the company and the investigation results so far, we acknowledge the need to arrest them,” the court said.
However, it rejected warrant requests for two other suspects ― a member of the production crew and an entertainment agency official ― who were allegedly involved in the vote-fixing scandal.
Ahn and Kim are suspected of rigging the ballots in favor of particular candidates throughout the four seasons of the Produce 101 series. The votes were conducted live and fans were charged for the texts they sent to vote for their favorite singers.
Since the previous seasons, there had been speculation of vote fixing as some popular candidates failed to make it to the final round while those who were expected to be eliminated made it to debut.
In the latest season that started in May, fans learned that the calculation of the voting result was mathematically impossible and filed a complaint with the prosecution against the producers of the show in July.
In October, police confirmed that results for some of the contestants were manipulated and made it possible for those contestants to debut.
Police also said one entertainment company was involved in the allegations. To ensure their trainees made the final list, officials from the agency allegedly bribed the producers by offering them drinks and entertainment worth tens of millions of won at luxury bars.
Police are investigating whether more officials or agencies were involved in the scandal and whether vote-rigging took place in other audition programs as well.
On the same day, the police also raided CJ ENM, which runs the channel, to seize more material regarding the allegations.
When the court was reviewing the prosecution's warrant request for the two producers, Mnet made an official apology, stating that the channel is sorry for causing trouble.
Mnet further said in the press statement that it was unaware of the vote-fixing allegations and requested the police to investigate the scandal as the company is limited in its ability to discover the truth.
“We deeply apologize to fans of Produce X 101, those who appeared in the show and relevant entertainment agencies,” it said. “We will actively cooperate with the investigation and take full responsibility for the result of it.”