Specifically, on January 20, 2023, in a fancall video below, when asked by a fan, “When did Haerin start learning to dance?” she replied, “I learned to dance for the first time when I joined the company. I also started learning to sing and dance for the first time after joining the company.”
However, on January 31, 2023, a series of videos showing Haerin’s dance training during elementary school were released by a dance academy, completely contradicting her claims to the fan. The detailed video below shows Haerin in the 6th grade.
Additionally, on January 31, 2023, Newjeans held a fansign and a livestream on their platform. During this time, a fan mentioned that the entire fandom had watched Haerin’s elementary school dance videos. After listening to the fan’s words, Haerin’s expression became slightly awkward and unnatural.
Furthermore, during the group’s livestream on the same day, when Minji and Hyein accidentally read a fan’s comment mentioning Haerin’s elementary school dance training, Haerin showed a reaction of embarrassment and lightly signaled to the youngest member, Hyein, to be quiet. Newjeans’ youngest member quickly changed her expression and softly apologized to Haerin, but Haerin completely ignored her.
Following the big controversy over Haerin’s dance training, several fanbases on X quickly deleted all videos related to Haerin’s dance training, including her elementary school dance videos.