Big Bang rapper T.O.P has shared a post expressing his love for his group, while cropping out former member Seungri.
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Earlier today (January 19), the idol took to Instagram to dedicate a post to his bandmates and fans. In the post, the rapper wrote, “#ilovemyband #ilovemyfans”, alongside an image of the group.
However, Big Bang fans quickly noticed that former member Seungri had been awkwardly cropped out of the image, which has been repositioned diagonally with white borders added to fill out the space..
The original photo, taken during Big Bang’s ‘Fxxk It’ era in 2016, had included the ex-Big Bang member in the upper left corner, next to main vocalist Daesung. Many of T.O.P’s followers have since been speculating that the rapper intentionally chose an image of the band with all five original members, before going to great lengths to crop out Seungri.
Additionally, fans of Big Bang have taken the post as a possible hint that the group might soon be making a comeback. However, T.O.P and the remaining members, as well as YG Entertainment have yet to confirm or deny the speculations.
Last August, it was revealed that Seungri had been sentenced to three years in jail on multiple charges, including arranging prostitution and gambling as part of his alleged involvement in the Burning Sun scandal in 2019.
The Burning Sun nightclub, which was owned by the former idol, was the setting for a controversy in 2019 that encompassed allegations of rape and spycam usage. It also involved a number of the Korean entertainment industry’s biggest names.
Aside from Seungri, singer Jung Joon-young and CNBLUE’s Lee Jong Hyun and former Highlight member Yong Jun-hyung were also linked to the controversy.