IVE's Jang Won-young Faces Another Pile-On, and Fans Say It's the Year's Worst Yet

A clip lasting only seconds had netizens calling IVE's Jang Won-young rude, and on the 4th she answered it herself. On a fan communication platform, she said she was flustered during a Bulgari photo call and simply missed one executive's cheek-to-cheek greeting.

The event took place on October 28 in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, where Jang appeared as a Bulgari brand ambassador. In the footage, she exchanges a cheek greeting with CEO Laura Burdese. Then a male executive, identified in reports as Vincenzo Puglia, the brand's global sales and retail vice president, steps in for the same greeting. Jang pulls her face back and turns her head, and the greeting never happens. The executive appears to pause for a moment.

The clip spread across online communities and social media on the 4th. Some netizens read it as a deliberate snub and raised the question of manners. Others pointed out the obvious problem: the video is short, and the angle and timing may have distorted what happened. Judging her intent from a few seconds of footage, they argued, was premature.

What Jang said

Jang didn't leave it to the debate. "Because it was a photo call, I was so flustered that I missed the cheek greeting with one of them," she told fans. "It seems some people could misunderstand that." She added that everyone involved had greeted each other warmly before the event started, calling them "like family." Then came the line that carried the most exasperation: "Surely nobody thinks I did it on purpose? That would honestly be amazing."

Replying to criticism in public is rare for her, which is part of why this drew attention. Fans took her side quickly. Many said it was absurd that she had to explain at all, and some noted that a foreign man initiating that kind of greeting could feel uncomfortable for anyone. A few guessed she spoke up mainly to protect the people involved. That last part is speculation, and Jang didn't say it.

A familiar pattern this year

Fans also framed this as the latest in a run. Earlier this year she was blamed for being late to an event because of a miscommunication on the organizers' side. She has also been criticized over an airport appearance and, separately, for how she linked arms at an amusement park. Fans consider all of these unfair pile-ons.

Jang has been a Bulgari ambassador since August last year. IVE released its new mini-album Looks Can Kill on October 26, so the group was in the middle of promotions when the clip took off.