Fans Raise North of $20,000 for Times Square Billboard to Keep Wonho in Monsta X

[Aerith]

A day after member Wonho left K-pop boy band Monsta X, the outpouring of support from fans of the group has been immense, as they clamor for the member to return to the group, despite Starship Entertainment reportedly terminating his contract on Friday.

One fan, collectively known as Monbebe, is organizing to create a billboard in Times Square flashing the request to Monsta X’s label Starship Entertainment, and GoFundMe has revealed to Billboard that it raised more than $13,000 USD in the span of an hour since it was launched on the crowdfunding platform’s site. Nearly 1,000 fans donated to the cause in the first hour. The original goal of the campaign was $10,000. K-pop ads regularly buy billboard space in the New York City landmark to promote their favorite stars. As of press time, the campaign has raised north of $20,000.

“We are going to make a graphic and display it in Times Square, where it will be on a board for 21 hours, a 15 second spot, 30 times per hour,” reads the GoFundMe campaign’s page, organized by Carter Lee of Parkland, Florida, known as Kihbebes on Twitter.

“They will not put out this fire inside of us... fire needs oxygen, Monsta X needs Monbebe. Starship cannot ignore us.

"Once goal is reached, I'll put the order in ASAP, I will keep you updated on my twitter! It would mean the absolute world to MX, I know it. They've helped us so much, it's time to repay them.”

Wonho left the group on Thursday following a series of allegations and rumors made against him regarding his behavior prior to the formation of Monsta X, which released its first single “Trespass” in 2015 and has gone on to become one of the most prominent K-pop acts around. They released their new single “Follow” on Monday and signed with Epic Records earlier this year.

Source: billboard.com

 

[denizen mars]

it was dumb when hottests laid down in front of the JYPE building 10 years ago to try to keep Jay Park in 2pm, and it's dumb for monbebes to do this now. once a company makes a decision, it's pretty much set in stone. perhaps Wonho will be successful in his career through other means.

 

[miatheikonic]

I don't want to hope but damn Monbebes united are too strong, they did so much to keep Wonho, and now it is just on Starship, fight or be a coward and let HSH ruin group

 

[Dragon of the West]

It's nice and all that they're showing their support but realistically speaking, nothing's going to come out of this. The decision has already been made by Starship and Wonho

 

[yooamygirls]

oh i saw this on twitter. It's sweet and impressive but i wonder if anything will result in this

 

[Echo]

Since this won't change anything they can now raise money for actually important causes

 

[Some]

It's amazing the amount of effort and love they have for him but as a person who's been a fan of korean entertaintment for almost a decade and have seen many " scandals " i don't think these billbords are necessary or will work they'll just announce to the whole city that he's involved in a diffcult situation and that that the group is in a crisis and thats the last thing wonho or monsta x wants . They are all grown men and wonho is almost 30 i dont think starship forced him out seeing him throught the years and reading all these kind things about him i can tell he's a good guy so i bet he decided to leave ya'll are just putting the group in a difficult postion with all these billiboards ,petitions and protests knowing kpop and starship all these years ya'll are just wasting time and money. And telling all those english sites ..,ok but instead of making it about wonho you should make it about how toxic these two women are the articles are all about wonho which is making the situation more akward it should be 2 jobless toxic bitches trying to destroy male kpop idols and the latest victom is wonho not wonho left and lets all cry together you should inform these sites correctly or the situation will just get messier the other stuff are amazing like reporting hansohee accounts and deleting negative searches and sending proof of intential slander to starship thats awsome all you guys have to do is express your feelings in the hashtags or fancafe and wait for more decions yall have done enough you dont need to do extra im sorry if what i said hurts you guys in anyway i tried to state my opinion in the least hurtful and most polite way i could think of i too like wonho very much but you guys are only fans there is a limit to things you can and cannot do if he felt he was wronged he would sue but no he wanted to leave . You guys just wait and belive in MX and i'm sure they'll Do their best so they can greet you again with a smile in the near future .

 

[fullofjoy]

It's nice and all that they're showing their support but realistically speaking, nothing's going to come out of this. The decision has already been made by Starship and Wonho

 

[AegyoInTheStreets]

Embarrassing