JYP Entertainment Denies School Violence Allegations Against ITZY's Lia In Official Statement

JYP Entertainment has officially denied the school violence accusations against ITZY's Lia and promised to take action against malicious comments and defamations against the idol.

Lia is a South Korean singer who debuted as the main vocalist of the girl group ITZY on Feb. 11, 2019, under JYP Entertainment. The group has five members including Lia, Yuna, Ryujin, Chaeryeong and Yeji.

The 20-year-old idol came under fire after an anonymous post was shared on the internet on Feb. 24 by someone claiming to be a victim of school violence.

The post claimed that a famous female idol born in 2000 and known for her sharp shoulder angle had committed acts of school violence and bullying, including verbal abuse and refusing to pay back money that was lent to her by a classmate.

Based on the information revealed in the post, some netizens came to the conclusion that the person being referred to in the post was ITZY's Lia. The information went viral shortly after, leading to many malicious comments against the artist.

On Thursday, Lia's management agency released a statement defending the idol against the allegations and rumors. The company promised to take legal action against those involved in spreading the false information.

According to Soompi, the statement released by the agency read as follows:

"Hello. This is JYP Entertainment.

"We share our position regarding the online post that is causing speculations about our artist Lia.

"This is a case in which we sued the writer of the post last year for defamation by spreading false rumors. We inform you that the investigation on this case is ongoing, and we are awaiting the results according to formal legal procedures.

"This matter is completely false, and we relay our plans to push further charges regarding the matter and also take strong legal action against any deeds that defame our artists and cause disruption to their promotions through such things like malicious comments and spreading false rumors."

In recent days, there has been a significant rise in controversies about South Korean celebrities being school bullies. According to Allkpop, JYP also issued a warning in response to school bullying allegations against Stray Kids member Hyunjin earlier this week.