EXO fans have accused SM Entertainment of excluding Chen in new content.
EXO’s Chen
In 2020, EXO‘s Chen surprised fans by announcing his upcoming marriage and first child in a heartfelt letter. Since then, the artist has reportedly registered the marriage and welcomed a second child, holding a ceremony in October 2023.
The initial news was met with criticism as fans demanded that Chen leave EXO, even holding a pitiful protest outside of SM Entertainment.
Chen has remained with the group, but fandom opinion has been mixed, with the idol even getting the silent treatment at an EXO event.
Many fans have criticized SM Entertainment for not doing more to protect the idol, and now they are accusing the company of excluding him in a new way.
Last August, the 4th season of EXO’s Travel The World On A Ladder (also known as EXO’s Ladder) was shared, with the season ending in September of that year.
| WAVVE
Recently, SM Culture & Contents‘s Studio, the subsidiary that handles content production, shared unseen clips from the season online. Initially, these clips were met with excitement until fans noticed that the videos shared did not include Chen in the thumbnail.
notice how one of them is nowhere to be seen in these pics? pic.twitter.com/ZgajKTIW2s
— (@XIUownstheworld) April 13, 2024
| SM C&C Studio
Chen appears in each video, so it is surprising that he is not included any of the thumbnails at all.
Fans have also implied that this is not the first time this has happened, and looking back through the EXO Ladder clips shared on YouTube, Chen does seem to appear in fewer thumbnails than the other members. For the same preview clip, WAVVE, the platform on which the full episodes are located, included Chen in the thumbnail, while the SM C&C channel did not.
| YouTube
While this may seem like a minor issue, fans have stayed vigilant for any indications that Chen is being excluded in any way. Some believe his absence in the thumbnails might be that he is being “hidden” to appease those who advocated for his removal.
That man has been married for 20 years and has 60 kids I need k”fans” and sm to MOVE ON https://t.co/ElO1Yw6l0F
— Li٭am ⍢⃝ ɞ needs to see exo (@instinctangel) April 13, 2024
Nothing new with this shit show company, constantly editing him out as much as possible. https://t.co/3hDmcXUOHW
— ☾ wordless-expressions ☾ (@wordlessexpress) April 13, 2024
smc&c has been doing this since 2020 (even excluding chanchen in a lot of the content until including cy recently)
we’re tired and used to this https://t.co/yaHE9c5PAo
— (@sunnysidechen) April 13, 2024
