Red Velvet singer Wendy breaks pelvis and arm after falling during rehearsal for Seoul show
Thursday, 26 Dec 201912:50 PM MYT
SEOUL (ANN): Fans are seeing red after Red Velvet singer Wendy fell from a stage and fractured her pelvis.
The 25-year-old was slated to give an individual performance in an SBS show in Seoul when the incident happened during a rehearsal on Dec 25.
The Korean girl group's agency SM Entertainment said Wendy was immediately rushed to hospital, noting that she suffered fractures in her pelvis and wrist on the right side of her body as well as facial injuries.
"She has been given emergency treatment," SM noted, adding that it will make all efforts to ensure that her welfare is the top priority for the group for now.
Red Velvet, which recently rolled out new album The ReVe Festival - Finale, pulled out of the Christmas Day show.
According to fans who posted comments online, Wendy had stepped off a platform but there were no steps to get down to another level, leading her to fall about 2m.
Fans are livid that broadcaster SBS did not provide a safe working place.
"How did SBS become so careless that they signalled for Wendy to go down the stairs in the dark but there were no stairs?
"She could have been killed.
"She could have been paralysed for life had she injured her spine.
"They need to stop treating entertainers as a commodity and treat them better," a fan posted.
Red Velvet supporters dismissed SBS' apology as just a token expression of regret.
Worse, its statement that Red Velvet could not perform in the show seemed to shift the blame to the group, the fans fumed.
Red Velvet followers were also upset that they could not enter the event's venue, with photographs showing empty seats that were meant for the girl group's fans, reported the allkpop portal.
But it seems that lessons were not learnt even after Wendy's fall.
Videos posted online of the event show that some members of K-pop groups Monsta X, NCT and Itzy had a hard time recreating their slick dance routines, with fans laying the blame on the sub-standard stage. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
