How K-pop Fans Utilize Conventional and Subcultural Frameworks to Construct Fan Identities: A Case Study of Seungri and the Burning Sun Scandal

In this article, we examine how fans on social media platforms manage their identities when faced with moral dilemmas in which their self-images and parasocial relations with idols are jeopardized. In particular, we explore how fans use social identification and deviant labeling as strategies to position themselves as distinct but not deviant cultural consumers. We choose a particular case of stigmatization within the Korean pop culture context – the Burning Sun Scandal involving Korean idol Seungri – to demonstrate this process. Drawing on concepts from social identity, subcultures, and deviance scholarship, we show how fans involved in discussions about the Burning Sun scandal explicitly linked themselves to conventional and/or subcultural moral and behavioral norms, while altercasting fans who expressed differing opinions regarding the idol's guilt versus innocence. Through the analysis of fans' identity claims, this study provides insights into how fans manage positive self-identification against a backdrop of media discourses in which the moral reputations of celebrity idols are called into question.