T.O.P's agency apologizes after 20-year fan site CHOIDOT shuts down over communication failures

A 20-year fan site calls it quits

CHOIDOT (최승현닷컴) launched on August 24, 2006. On October 9, it announced closure — ending two decades of support for T.O.P (Choi Seung-hyun), the former BIGBANG member who officially left the group in 2023.

The shutdown statement was blunt. Operators said they "could no longer overlook T.O.P and TopSpot Pictures' avoidance of reality and evasion of responsibility, and their attitude of taking fans' dedication for granted." They singled out the rollout of T.O.P's solo album 다중관점. He'd called it "an album for fans" — but it arrived without the stages or direct communication fans had been waiting for.

What the site says the agency never did

TopSpot Pictures ran no official fan inquiry channel. No community forum. No email address. Overseas fan inquiries landed at CHOIDOT instead, turning a volunteer fan site into the company's de facto customer service desk. Album promotion and fan events that should have been the agency's responsibility fell to the fansite's own effort and budget.

That budget broke them. CHOIDOT had planned a fan exhibition for 300 people with a budget of approximately 9 million won. Low reservation rates sent costs climbing for the operators. Subsequent cancellations made the event impossible to run.

The site pushed back hard against any reading that linked the closure to T.O.P's newly confirmed relationship with actress Nana. T.O.P and Nana met through a music video shoot, began dating in June, and confirmed the relationship publicly on October 2. CHOIDOT said many fans already knew about it before any official announcement and had stayed quiet out of respect for his privacy. Reading the exhibition cancellation as "fans angry about a romance" was a distortion they "could never accept."

The site's final message to T.O.P was direct: "An album is not a gift or glory given down to fans," and "fans' love and support should not be used when convenient and ignored when inconvenient."

The agency's response

TopSpot Pictures posted an apology via SNS on October 10. "We deeply apologize for not sufficiently delivering activity news and communication to fans who had waited, and for causing disappointment and regret," the statement read. The agency promised to listen to fan opinions more closely and reflect them in T.O.P's activities and operations going forward. It said it would review its communication methods and announce specific improvements through official channels once they are ready.

(Whether that's enough to bring back a fansite that ran longer than most K-pop groups have existed is another question.)