Ahn Joon-young, the director of Mnet's 'Produce 101' series, acknowledged the vote rigging against 'Produce 48' and 'Produce X101', and Lee Ga-eun, who was in a prominent debut group in the 'Produce 48', received much spotlight because she recently posted a meaningful passage from Kim Jin-jin's essay book, titled "Accompanying Plant" stimulating the curiosity of netizens.
Lee Ga-eun released news on her Instagram on November 1st. The picture showed that she was shopping with an acquaintance in Garosu-gil, Sinsa-dong, Seoul. Not only that, she posted a picture of a page of the book. She posted a passage written by herself; "May you deepen your root with no harm for soil and bloom with no pride when your season comes."
The netizens believe that Lee Ga-eun posted it on her social media as she felt empathy with the passage.
Lee is communicating with fans through YouTube channels and social media these days. Recently, a special event was held to commemorate the 10,000 subscribers of her YouTube channel. On November 5th, a picture of Lee uploaded on Instagram attracted her fans.
Unfortunately, it was the date when the producer Ahn Joon-young of 'Produce 48' starring Lee Ga-eun was arrested for suspicion of vote rigging. He admitted that he had manipulated the ranks for both 'Produce 48' last year and 'Produce X101' this year.
Produce 48's final debut group, IZ*ONE, has cancelled the showcase, which was scheduled on 11th. It was because of a red flag on their activities due to the controversy. Especially, the possibility of IZ*ONE activity became more opaque as the complaints are growing more.
At the time of the program, Lee Ga-eun had gained a top position in the mid-ranking ceremony, but she was eliminated from the final debut group. She also left her company Pledis in July after the contract expired. She built a new nest for High Entertainment, but as there has not been much news from her, her fans are concerned. Her social media and YouTube are the only communication channels.
