Live Nation Taiwan draws criticism for alleged disrespectful BLACKPINK post

Live Nation Taiwan, the organiser of BLACKPINK‘s recent concerts at Kaohsiung National Stadium on the island, has come under fire for an alleged disrespectful post about the K-pop group.

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BLACKPINK recently held a two-day concert on March 18 and 19 at in Kaohsiung, Taiwan organised by Live Nation Taiwan. Soon after the concerts wrapped and as the girl group were set to leave the self-ruled island, the Instagram account of Live Nation Taiwan allegedly posted an image of a private plane circled alongside the caption: “Walk yourself out. As if it’s your last,” Per Taiwanese news outlet ET Today.

According to ET Today, the now-deleted post was criticised by Taiwanese fans of BLACKPINK for being disrespectful. Live Nation Taiwan has since issued an statement to address the controversy, saying they they have started an “internal investigation” in order to ascertain whether the image had been posted by “internal staff”.

“If the picture and post are found to be real, we will impose serious punishment,” Live Nation wrote in its statement, as translated by Koreaboo. “If the picture and post are found to be maliciously fabricated, we reserve the right to take legal action.”

The organiser apologised for “giving fans and the general public a bad impression” and that it respects BLACKPINK and the girl group’s team. “Live Nation Taiwan… is grateful to them for bringing their world-class show to the fans in Taiwan. We are also thankful for the constructive criticisms and suggestions from fans,” it added.

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Meanwhile, tickets to BLACKPINK’s Taiwan concerts were reportedly being resold by scalpers for nearly 45 times the retail price, up to an eye-watering NT$400,000 (nearly $13,000). The original retail prices of the tickets had ranged from NT$2,300 (roughly US$75) to NT$8,800 (US$285).

The post Live Nation Taiwan draws criticism for alleged disrespectful BLACKPINK post appeared first on NME.