Hello, this is a petition for the k-pop boy group iKON to leave YG Entertainment (or, in other words, have their contract terminated). 

As some people may already know—iKON’s leader, Kim Hanbin (otherwise known under his stage name as B.I), was forced to leave iKON and YG Entertainment by his management (For more details on that, see this petition requesting for Hanbin not to have to leave YG explains some of it pretty decently).

On July 27th, the remaining 6 members of iKON had their first concert without Hanbin, the first of 14 shows for this tour. During this concert, the members were visibly following a script and could not mention Hanbin at all. In this tweet you can watch a video where members were angry, crying, and visibly upset. The members have to continue to do this for a whole tour. That is literally mental abuse. Many iKONICs (members of iKON’s fandom) are heartbroken at what is happening to our boys. I’ve even seen that some members of other fandoms are worried and heartbroken over this.

The mistreatment iKON has received from YG Ent. has been ongoing for years, and it’s been known since their debut. iKON debuted in the summer of 2015, and started touring in January of 2016. This was before they had even made an appearance on a variety show. During this tour, iKON did 28 concerts, 12 of these were held over the course of 6 days in Asia, and the members had to fly to China frequently for a survival show they had to practice for in between all of this. They ended up sleeping in practice rooms during this time. During this time, where they had a packed tour, with 2 concerts a day at times, when iKON couldn’t practice in China, they practiced backstage/outside of concert venues before flying to China. iKON’s first tour, only months after their debut, gathered about 200K attendees across 15 shows. YG did not report the rest of the numbers.

After a successful debut album and a well-received tour, instead of getting a comeback, iKON was sent on another tour with attendees totaling to about 300K. A week after their first tour ended. This second tour consisted of 25 concerts, with 20 being held in 10 days. Two years after their debut, iKON’s done 93+ concerts of +850K tickets. 62 of these concerts being held on a two-per-day basis.

During the 2nd tour, the one that extended into 2017, Hanbin got injured in his eye. The company made a statement that he wouldn’t be performing because of his injuries. They made a point that there wouldn’t be any refunds. Despite Hanbin not being able to see due to his injury, they still made him go up on stage. Fans were upset at this. Hanbin wasn’t the only one suffering during this time. They all looked like they were spaced out and got thin to the point where members of other fandoms, people who don’t or didn’t know iKON, were worried.

iKON’s one week break between these two tours ended with four concerts on September 10 and 11. Only a few days before their 1st anniversary. That’s how they reached their first anniversary. If you want to know more about these tours, you can read the rest of the thread I was referring to here.

YG is known for being expensive and brand conscious, but there’s been a number of occasions where they have snubbed iKON of these nicer things:

• iKON appeared on TV in “brand new” white boots. As it turns out, these were white, repainted boots. The paint chipped off.
• iKON performed on MelOn Music Awards with $8-30USD/piece mass ordered Rothko stuff.
• iKON have worn each other’s daily and airport clothes to photoshoots and MVs.
• Outfits from the first tour were recycled and reused during the second tour. Some of them were restitched.

YG’s mistreatment of iKON is just plain horrible. It’s abusive. And keep in mind, all of this is what we’ve been able to witness. It is very likely there is more going on behind closed doors. And honestly? At this point, I personally believe our best case scenario is that iKON’s contracts are all terminated. As long as they aren’t under YG, as long as they aren’t under an abusive company, we’re happy. And not just we would be happy, but iKON would be better off in terms of mental health. Nobody deserves mental abuse, or abuse in general.

If you have more details about this situation and the abuse iKON is going through, please dm me on Twitter @kirabakanya and I’ll try to make updates to this.