Former BIGBANG member T.O.P (Choi Seung-hyun, 최승현, 38) and After School alumna Nana (Im Jin-ah, 임진아, 35) recently confirmed their relationship, a revelation that has unexpectedly triggered a wave of negative sentiment. Not only have Nana’s past remarks criticizing male idols been unearthed by netizens, but T.O.P’s own controversies have also resurfaced. Furthermore, a fan-organized exhibition reportedly saw a sharp decline in reservations and a surge of cancellations, ultimately forcing its cancellation. The “aftermath” of the relationship announcement continues to unfold.
T.O.P and Nana officially acknowledged their relationship on the 2nd. Their respective agencies revealed that the two first met in January of this year while filming the music video for a track on T.O.P’s solo full-length album. They gradually grew closer and began dating around June. Both companies stated that the couple is currently in a stable relationship.
Nana later addressed the relationship directly through a fan communication platform, admitting that the sudden announcement might have caught fans off guard and that she felt a bit shy. She stated, “We will date well and healthily.” However, the public’s reaction to the news has not been entirely supportive, with both their pasts quickly becoming a focus for netizens to re-examine.
Among the unearthed pasts, Nana had previously garnered attention for commenting on a video of THE BOYZ member Sunwoo (선우). In April 2025, Sunwoo was filmed dropping his AirPods, which were then picked up and returned by a nearby security guard. At the time, some netizens criticized him for not picking them up himself, deeming his behavior impolite. Nana also commented, “It seems he needs to be taught a lesson,” adding, “That behavior looked very rude, and I was quite shocked.”
Now that Nana and T.O.P have officially confirmed their relationship, these old comments have resurfaced, leading some netizens to question her consistency, with comments like, “She criticized Sunwoo before, but now she’s dating T.O.P, who has a drug record.” However, others argue that the two matters are unrelated, believing that “commenting on someone’s behavior” and “choosing who to date” are inherently different issues and should not be conflated.
Meanwhile, T.O.P’s own past controversies have also re-emerged as a topic of discussion among netizens. T.O.P was previously sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, and fined 12 million Korean won for marijuana use. Although his probation period has ended, he has remained active in the entertainment industry in recent years, appearing in Squid Game 2 and releasing a solo full-length album.
Shortly after the relationship was made public, another significant development emerged from T.O.P’s fandom. On the 4th, T.O.P’s fan website “CHOIDOT” announced the official cancellation of the “OFF GRID: NEW GROUND” exhibition, originally scheduled for October 31 to November 1. This event was a fan-curated exhibition centered around T.O.P’s first solo full-length album, ANOTHER DIMENSION.
The exhibition was initially expected to attract around 300 attendees over two days, featuring works related to the album’s 11 songs and interactive activities for fans. However, after reservations opened, the actual number of sign-ups was only about 25% of the initial projection. Despite having signed a venue contract and paid a deposit, the organizing fan website had still intended to absorb the losses and proceed as planned.
Unexpectedly, a continuous stream of cancellation requests from already reserved fans followed, causing the estimated attendance to drop further, eventually reaching only about 10% to 15% of the original “single-day projected number.” With such a significant reduction in participants, the organizers ultimately concluded that they could no longer hold the event in its planned format and scale, thus deciding to cancel. All ticket fees for reserved attendees will be fully refunded.
The organizers specifically mentioned that some overseas fans had even planned to fly to Korea to attend the exhibition. Therefore, to prevent fans from incurring additional losses on flights and accommodation, they decided to announce the cancellation as quickly as possible.
Notably, the news of the fan exhibition’s cancellation emerged just days after T.O.P and Nana publicly confirmed their relationship, leading outsiders to interpret it as a “fandom aftermath” of the announcement.
Some fans’ current reactions to T.O.P are not simply against him dating, but rather disappointment over the timing of the relationship’s disclosure and his communication with fans. Coupled with the large number of exhibition reservation cancellations after the announcement, it has led to speculation about whether T.O.P’s fan support is being affected by his public relationship.
On one hand, Nana’s past comments have been unearthed, sparking accusations of a “double standard”; on the other, T.O.P’s past controversies are being re-examined, and even a fan-organized event has been called off due to a sharp drop in attendance.
While it cannot be directly confirmed that the exhibition’s cancellation was entirely due to their relationship, the timing coincidence has fueled public discussion. What should have been a sweet topic following a relationship reveal has instead been met with a series of negative comments, resurfaced past issues, and the cancellation of fan activities, keeping the “post-announcement effects” of T.O.P and Nana’s relationship under continuous scrutiny.
How T.O.P will address his fans and how Nana will respond to public sentiment are now key points of interest following this public relationship.
