On January 31, 2025, during Aespa’s concert in Seattle, widespread rumors falsely claimed that Winter threw a skirt at her teammate, implying alleged bullying.
However, the facts are as follows:
Based on the planned choreography, Winter and her teammate were supposed to throw their skirts in different directions. The sequence, however, was disrupted due to a delay in the teammate’s movement. The widely circulated image online is misleading due to an optical illusion. In reality, the skirt did not hit her teammate.
(See image P1 for reference.)
Nonetheless, the hashtag #Winter quickly surged to the top of trending topics, with numerous social media accounts publishing misleading narratives.
Additionally, on January 31, 2025, during the Seattle concert, another false rumor spread, alleging that Winter had said “Happy Lunar New Year.”
The truth is that Winter only said “Happy New Year” throughout the event and never used the term “Lunar.” The Korean term “설날” (Seollal) has been used for centuries to refer to the New Year in Korea. The term “Lunar” was added by SM Entertainment’s official translator, not by Winter herself.
(See video P2 for verification.)
Finally, on February 15, 2025, during Aespa’s Toronto concert, yet another false rumor emerged, alleging that Winter interrupted her teammate’s speech, preventing them from speaking, while the camera focused solely on her.
The truth is that during Aespa’s concerts, the talking segments are spontaneous, allowing members to speak freely. During the Los Angeles concert, Winter’s speaking time was limited to just four seconds, demonstrating that these segments are not fixed or predetermined. Furthermore, in the Toronto concert, Winter’s solo part was blacked out on the big screen, meaning that camera control is the responsibility of SM Entertainment, not the artist. Additionally, as a Korean speaker, Winter had to spend half of her time interacting and waiting for translations.
(See images P3-4 for further context.)
Despite this, hashtags such as #AespaConcertTalkingSegment, #WinterSpeech, and #AespaTorontoConcert suddenly trended, once again driven by multiple accounts spreading misleading narratives.
A Call for Truth:We want to emphasize that these baseless attacks are not an opportunity to argue about how Winter’s fans should “defend” her. Instead, our goal is to present the truth to the wider public and say: “Please take a moment to see the facts. Winter is truly a kindhearted person.”
@SMTOWNGLOBAL@aespa_official
#SM_Protect_WINTER
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