Jeong Sanghyeon of Boys II Planet is facing backlash over alleged animal abuse after photos of him carrying his pet cat outside went viral.
Netizens slammed Sanghyeon, saying taking a cat out without proper care is dangerous and irresponsible. The controversy gained traction quickly online.
An acquaintance of Sanghyeon responded to the accusations, sharing their perspective and photos showing the cat wearing a harness and riding in a stroller.
“Hello, I am very cautious writing this, but I am Sanghyeon’s acquaintance. I saw all the posts about people saying he is abusing his cat and taking them on walks without a harness. I debated posting this, but I had such a heavy heart reading the posts that I decided to post.
Yesterday, someone I trained with a long time ago suddenly texted me and asked me what the cat’s name was. Thinking nothing of it, I told them, and that was it. But they suddenly saved all the photos of his cat and posted them online, leaving out the ones that showed it wearing the harness and in the stroller.
Sanghyeon has taken down all photos currently. He really cares for his cat, and animal abuse is out of the question. I am leaving this message here because I feel so bad reading all these posts.”
The acquaintance’s response quickly gained over 85,000 views but sparked further confusion and mixed reactions.
Many netizens called the explanation weak and voiced their discomfort:
“It’s even more interesting that this is the response we get.”
“Taking a cat out for a walk is just plain weird.”
“But the cat is adorable.”
“I don’t think they understand that taking the cat for a walk is the problem.”
“This is an explanation? An explanation on his behalf?”
“I don’t see what they are trying to explain here.”
The situation remains under close watch by fans and the K-pop community as Jeong Sanghyeon stays silent and removes related photos.
