Actor Nana and T.O.P. [Herald Muse]
Actor Nana and T.O.P. [Herald Muse]

A fan photo exhibition dedicated to T.O.P (38, real name Choi Seung-hyun), a singer and actor best known as a former member of Big Bang, has been canceled after registrations dropped sharply. Some observers have attributed the decline to the recent public disclosure of his relationship with Nana (35, real name Im Jin-ah), a singer and actor who formerly belonged to After School.

On Sunday, T.O.P's domestic fan site Choiseunghyun.com announced on its official social media that it had been forced to cancel an exhibition planned for Oct. 31 through Nov. 1.

The exhibition was to have been the fan site's first photo show, inspired by T.O.P's debut solo album "Daejung Gwanjeom" ("Multiple Perspectives").

Choiseunghyun.com said it had planned for a total of 300 attendees across both days — a scaled-back figure from previous years, taking into account T.O.P's ongoing tour schedule and other circumstances. After reservations opened, actual sign-ups reached only about 25 percent of the projected number.

The fan site said it had initially intended to proceed as planned, having already signed a venue contract and paid a deposit, and was prepared to absorb additional costs and losses to honor its commitment to those who had registered. "But from yesterday through today, cancellation requests from existing registrants have continued, reducing the expected attendance to around 10 to 15 percent of what we had originally planned for a single day," it said. Sign-ups had already fallen below 100 before the wave of cancellations, and the figure subsequently dropped to fewer than 50.

Choiseunghyun.com said it had concluded that it could no longer operate the exhibition in the form and at the scale originally planned. "After much deliberation, we ultimately reached the difficult decision to cancel the exhibition," it said.

The site also acknowledged that many overseas fans had been planning trips to Korea for the event. "We judged that notifying you as quickly as possible, rather than delaying the decision further, would help minimize additional inconvenience and losses related to travel arrangements such as flights and accommodation," it said, adding a sincere apology to all who had registered and waited for the exhibition.

Some have suggested the sharp drop in registrations may be fallout from the public disclosure of T.O.P's relationship with Nana.

The two were reported to be in a relationship by a media outlet on Friday, and subsequently acknowledged that they had been dating since June. They are said to have first met on the set of a music video shoot, with the relationship developing from there.


paq@heraldcorp.com