During IU’s H.E.R cease in Seoul, a fan was mistakenly recognized as a scalper, leading to EDAM Entertainment workers stopping their entry to the live performance venue. Despite the fan offering proof of their ticket reservation and receiving clearance from EDAM, they had been nonetheless denied entry upon arrival on the venue. Subsequently, suspicions arose amongst followers when it was found that the fan’s designated seat had been occupied, fueling hypothesis that workers members had unlawfully occupied the seats.

Following the uproar from followers, EDAM Entertainment issued a secondary assertion on April 4, 2024, aiming to deal with the state of affairs. In their assertion, the corporate clarified that they’d reviewed surveillance footage to establish the person who occupied the fan’s seat. According to EDAM, the seat remained empty throughout the first half of the live performance, suggesting that it was not deliberately withheld. They speculated that throughout the second half, one other attendee might have opportunistically moved to the vacant seat, probably for a greater view, resulting in the misunderstanding.

EDAM Entertainment initially refuted the accusations with an announcement, denying any involvement within the incident. “We sincerely apologize to the fan who experienced inconvenience regarding the response process. We will work hard to reach an agreement in order to resolve the matter. We will also do our best regarding the case filed with the Korea Consumer Agency. Additionally, we would like to express our apologies to all the fans who were inconvenienced during the ticketing process. Also, none of our employees or executives received tickets for the show. In order to prevent any misunderstanding, we have all the printed original tickets for the seats.

We understand that this is something that cannot be improved in a short period as it takes a lot of careful planning to prevent further damage. We are working with our team to create a better plan moving forward. We will do our best to make sure that something like this will not happen again. We have also checked the matter internally. We had cameras rolling on site for DVD filming purposes. We rolled the tapes from the moment fans entered to the end of the concert, just in case, taking a look at that particular seat. Firstly, the seat was empty from the opening to the first half of the concert. Somewhere between the two halves, the seat was taken by somebody. Our company did not sell or give the ticket to anyone. There are times where audience members go to the washroom and our staff lead them there and follow them back, checking that everyone goes back to their seats after. So we guess that it could have been a situation where an audience member returned from the bathroom and saw the empty seat, deciding to hop it.”