South Korean rapper Suga admitted he does not pay attention to malicious online comments. The 25-year-old BTS member revealed that his agency will take all possible legal action against those spreading hateful words against him or the band.
During a live broadcast on Naver's V app, one fan asked: "Do you also read malicious comments?"
Suga responded: "I seriously don't worry about malicious comments. I'm sorry but I don't really read them."
"You can go on and leave many (malicious comments). You can just leave them and my company will sue you," he added. "I don't read them, but they get sued, and no agreements will be made. Everyone's happy then, right? I hope they continue writing more."
In recent years, celebrities and famous personalities have been subjected to relentless online assaults - at times with disastrous, or even lethal, effects.
In June, Big Hit Entertainment had announced the label will taking legal action against malicious comments about BTS. The agency posted a notice on the BTS fan cafe titled, 'Legal action against infringement of artist rights' to update fans on the legal proceedings.
The note read: "With the active cooperation of fans, we have taken legal action against malicious slander and comments, the spreading of false information, personal attacks and defamation posts that were spreading online and on social media since 2016."
"We have filed complaints against those who made senseless and malicious remarks against our agency's artists under 'contempt' (Criminal law, Article 311) and 'defamation due to false information' (Act on Promotion of Information and Communication Network Utilization and Information Protection Article 70 Section 2). Most of the cases have been completed without leniency or making settlements, and investigations are currently underway for some other cases."
"We want to emphasize that we will constantly monitor, collect data, and continue to take strong legal action against malicious netizens who maliciously and habitually harass, and infringe on artists' rights. Please note that this legal action is being taken only through our legal team and specialized law firm that is in charge of this task, and want to inform you that this authority has not been given to one individual in any way," it stated.