NCT’s Johnny, Winwin unfollows Taeil seeking sexual offense accusations; group’s promotions delayed

A number of NCT members have made big moves to disassociate themselves from the incident that has been engulfing Taeil in the wake of it. Taeil’s exit from the group was announced by SM Entertainment on August 28 in response to claims of a sexual offense. His fellow members have responded to the announcement in a very timely and noteworthy manner.

Taeil’s personal Instagram account has been unfollowed by Johnny, Winwin, Mark, and other members of NCT. The head of NCT, Taeyong, was previously one of the first to take action, unfollowing Taeil and deleting pictures of himself from his own account. As part of a larger effort to cut connections with the troubled member, these images—which included memories from Taeyong’s military send-off—have been removed.

Remaining NCT members Doyoung and Haechan chose to unfollow Taeil’s account exclusively, avoiding more general account deletions, while Doyoung unfollowed Taeil and cleared his following list, following Taeyong’s example. In the most recent Johnny, Winwin and Mark also stopped following Taeil, removing themselves from the scandal’s potential to have a significant impact on the dynamics of the group and their public perception.

Along with the abrupt shift in team relationships, the scandal has impacted NCT Dream’s continued promotions. WithMUU revealed that Mark and Haechan’s planned video call event for the NCT DREAM album DREAM( )SCAPE would be postponed on the same day as Taeil’s removal.

The controversy has hampered ongoing operations in addition to Taeil’s standing inside the organization. SM Entertainment has underlined that they are treating the matter with the utmost care as the investigation into Taeil’s alleged transgressions continues.