SEVENTEEN’s The8 (Xu Minghao) has become the center of a heated online debate after his recent appearance at the W Gala in Macau, where some netizens claimed the idol’s nose looked different from usual.
SEVENTEEN’s The8 at the W Gala (Credits: Koreaboo)
The8 had been trending for all the right reasons, with fans celebrating his visuals and performance at the event. But amid the excitement, a discourse began as viewers speculated whether the idol had done something to his nose — with some posts mourning his “round nose” and joking about a “HYBE nose.”
Fans defend The8: “it’s impossible to recover overnight”
Many Carats hit back hard at the allegations. Their core argument: The8 looked completely normal in a selfie with fellow member Jun posted just the day before, and no plastic surgery procedure could possibly heal that fast.
Instead, fans pointed to far more likely explanations: stage makeup, nose-lifting inserts, camera filters — and the fact that the appearance came right around Halloween, when prosthetics and heavy styling are common. “It’s definitely a combo of makeup, nose shaper rings and camera filters,” one widely shared post argued, while another noted the shape of his nostrils made the insert theory “obvious.”
Plastic surgery rumors are nothing new for idols
Speculation about idols’ visuals is a near-constant feature of K-pop discourse, and The8’s agency has not addressed the claims. But the swift, detailed pushback from fans — complete with side-by-side comparisons — shows how quickly such rumors can be dismantled when the timeline does not add up.
For now, the debate appears to be one thing everyone can agree on: The8’s visuals at the W Gala were stunning, whatever the styling trick behind them was.
Also Read: PLEDIS Entertainment Takes Zero-Tolerance Legal Action Over Malicious Posts Against SEVENTEEN | SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu Faces Backlash and Dating Rumors Over Backup Dancer Interactions
Source: Koreaboo — read the full story there.
