Wonhee of ILLIT faces fierce backlash over misunderstood TWICE comment
ILLIT’s Wonhee is under fire after comments she made about TWICE during a radio show were widely misinterpreted online.
The controversy began following her guest spot on Park So Hyun’s Love Game radio program with fellow ILLIT members Mocha and Yunah. When asked to pick a song, Wonhee chose TWICE’s “Heartshaker” and explained why:
“So I had to decide between BTS sunbaenims’ ‘I Need You’ and this. But I went with ‘Heartshaker’ because I think, when I hear ‘K-Pop Girl Group,’ it has always been TWICE sunbaenims for me. Since I was young, TWICE sunbaenims have been a huge part of my life. I would always watch all of their new content. And when this came out, I used to dance to it all the time.”
— ILLIT’s Wonhee
Soon after, a mistranslation of her words circulated on X (formerly Twitter), wrongly stating:
“In my opinion, when it comes to the most popular girl group, it’s always been TWICE.”
This incorrect phrasing triggered backlash, with many fans interpreting it as a dismissal of other top girl groups, particularly BLACKPINK. A fan war quickly erupted online, fueled by viral posts criticizing Wonhee.
Tweets showed BLINKS reacting strongly, accusing Wonhee of disrespect:
“wonhee made blinks crash out so bad”
“Blinks are now harrassing Wonhee over her opinion about TWICE’s popularity. These are the same people who call others misogynists every other day.”
ILLIT fans rushed to clarify the misunderstanding by sharing the full, accurate quote. They emphasized Wonhee was expressing personal admiration, not sparking rivalry:
“In my opinion, when I think of K-pop girl groups, the first group that comes to mind is TWICE sunbaenim. Since I was young, TWICE were always someone my friends watched and who naturally became a part of my daily life.”
— Accurate translation cited by ILLIT BASE“WONHEE was just expressing her love for TWICE. She meant to say that she chose TWICE among girl groups. Stop harassing her ? y’all doing too much it’s clearly not that deep. Calling her names over this is actually insane.. this is getting ridiculous”
— Fan on X
Despite the clarifications, backlash toward Wonhee continues to gain traction across social media as the situation develops. Monitoring reactions closely reveals a heated divide between fandoms sparked by the translation error.
