Netizens are talking about idols and the dangerous territory of their jokes.

On an online community forum, a netizen made a post about WEi member Junseo's private Bubble messages with his fans and highlighted a chat where he wrote: 

"I would love it if everyone gave me a hundred won (~10 cents) each. Lol. Happily daydreaming. Should I give you my bank account number? Just give me 10 cents each, okay? >< Shin h... Shin h...!!! (Name of bank insinuated) lol"

In another screenshot, Junseo also wrote: "I should take photos of RUi (fandom) and receive 50,000 won (~50 dollars). Possible?? But I am confident that I can take good photos. Not 500,000 won for 10 photos but I'll take about 500 as profile photos, select the best ones, and edit them. Especially because it's RUi~~"

Under these chats, netizens expressed that it wasn't great to see such words from an idol even though they "clearly knew it was a joke." The original poster remarked that it is "annoying" to see idols mentioning money too easily in front of their fans. 

They wrote: "It's obvious that they are idols who earn money from fans but isn't it really uncomfortable to see them asking exactly how much they want from them?"

Other top-voted commenters shared: 

"It's obvious that big companies will educate their idols about what to do and what not to do. Sometimes, leaders of smaller companies don't know how to run an idol business and let everyone say whatever"

"What does he do this...? Even that private messaging system is something he gets money for"

"Why..."

"I wonder how much a group like WEi would earn"

Meanwhile, fans and other netizens defended the idol with more context regarding the screenshots. Some also left reactions that that it's "cute" and even "honest" when idols can say those things out loud, even as a joke.

A commenter wrote: "It looks like a joke...I don't think it's something worth judging his moral for...although if that behavior continues to repeat itself then I would understand the hate"

Fans who provided context wrote that the whole photo-taking in exchange for money was a joke between Junseo and fellow WEi member Daehyun. According to the fans, Junseo had taken a photo of Daehyun, who posted the photo and credited him on Instagram. In the comments section of the platform, Junseo joked with Daehyun that he has just charged him 50,000 won for the photo.

When the fans asked Junseo via private message whether Daehyun had given him the money, the idol responded that he "obviously didn't." As a continuation of the joke, Junseo was telling the fans that he should offer photos of RUi to Daehyun and get paid the 50,000 won in return.

Other netizens also spoke up and shared that Junseo and many idols tend to joke with fans about wiring money. In defense of idols in general, a netizen who looked up further context stated that "nowadays, so many posts demonize idols by providing screenshots with the other chats cut out."

At the same time, some netizens were still expressed that jokes with fans concerning money should never be too frequent or go overboard. What are your thoughts?