Rookie girl group ILLIT had their Sogang University performance shaken—not by their dancing, but by fandom drama. Right before they hit the stage, a fan loudly shouted, “It’s NewJeans Haerin’s birthday!” during a crowd warm-up. The result? A wave of awkward booing, turning what should’ve been ILLIT’s shining moment into an internet moment.
At today's university festival, just before ILLIT's performance, a tokki suddenly mentioned that it was Haerin's birthday and asked for a celebration, but the crowd responded with boos instead of cheers. pic.twitter.com/rxDiLCreTE
— Aespann_jeans (@a1071364) May 15, 2025
The MC tried damage control, steering the mood back to celebration. But the tension was real, especially considering that ILLIT and NewJeans have been previously involved in legal drama. Back on March 7, 2025, NewJeans’ Hanni revealed that a HYBE (the company both groups share) staff member instructed the ILLIT members to ignore her in the building. Then, NewJeans’ former CEO, Min Hee Jin, accused ILLIT of copying NewJeans.
Belift has ultimately admitted That they plagiarised NewJeans with their girl group ILLIT they claim in court that even if min heejins claims are true they want to sue her for exposing them
Min heejins has submitted over 1000 pieces of evidence privately to the court pic.twitter.com/mOErm7eBGA
— Lia ✮ (@Splias) January 10, 2025
Consequently, online forums lit up, with Sogang students calling the moment “disrespectful” and criticizing the fan’s timing. To be clear: the boos weren’t directed at ILLIT, but the situation only added fuel to the already sizzling fandom feud. While the girls kept it professional and performed as planned, this incident shows how fragile things are in K-pop’s internal label wars.
