BLACKPINK’s 10th Anniversary Turns Into a 40-Fan Fiasco

BLACKPINK’s agency announced via Weverse on Thursday, August 6, 2026, that it would mark the group’s 10th debut anniversary with a special fan event on Saturday, August 8 — but capped attendance at just 40 fans, chosen by lottery, with the exact time and venue withheld from the public and shared only with winners. Eligibility was restricted to fans who had purchased a paid annual Weverse membership by July 31, and applicants had less than a day to enter before winners were announced. The announcement also initially left open whether all four members would attend, depending on individual schedules [1, 2].

The limited scale and short notice triggered immediate backlash from BLINKs, the group’s fanbase, who noted BLACKPINK had not held a Weverse Live broadcast since 2024 and had rarely posted on the platform over the past year, making the membership requirement feel punitive to lapsed subscribers. YG Entertainment confirmed Friday, August 7 that all four members — Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa — would attend, and said it had lined up additional programming including digital fan activities, merchandise releases and a listening party running August 8 through 14 [2, 3]. On Saturday, member Jisoo posted a written apology on Weverse, writing she felt “specially sorry” for the disappointment and telling fans, “I have never forgotten that BLINKs are the ones who have made BLACKPINK shine like this… I’m sorry for causing you such a great sense of disappointment” [4, 5].

Why It Sucks:

BLINKs (the Fanbase)

• A decade of loyalty gets a 40-person thank-you. Fans who have supported the group since 2016 say capping a milestone celebration at 40 attendees, chosen by lottery, feels dismissive of a global fanbase numbering in the millions [1, 2].
• The membership requirement punishes inactivity the group itself caused. Many fans let paid Weverse memberships lapse specifically because the members hadn’t used the platform for a live broadcast since 2024, then found themselves locked out of the anniversary event for that same lapse [2].
• Less than a day to apply feels like a setup. A tight application window with an undisclosed venue and time gave ordinary fans almost no real chance to plan around the event, deepening suspicion that the event was designed to be small rather than genuinely inclusive [1, 2].

YG Entertainment

• Scheduling four superstar solo careers is genuinely hard. With Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa all running independent acting, modeling and solo music commitments, locking down a single date and venue that works for all four on short notice is a real logistical constraint, not just corporate indifference [2, 3].
• Security and venue capacity aren’t infinite. A large-scale, publicly announced reunion event carries crowd-control and safety costs that a lottery-capped, undisclosed-location gathering avoids, even if that tradeoff reads badly to fans expecting a blowout celebration [1].
• The added programming got buried by the backlash. YG’s rollout of a week-long slate of digital content, merchandise and a listening party running through August 14 was overshadowed entirely by outrage over the 40-person cap, burying a broader effort under one bad headline [3].

The BLACKPINK Members

• They’re absorbing anger over a business decision. Jisoo had to personally apologize on a livestream for an event structure that fans largely blame on agency planning, putting the emotional labor of damage control on the artists rather than the company that set the terms [4, 5].
• A milestone they didn’t design became a controversy about them. Instead of a celebration of ten years of work, the anniversary’s public narrative is now about fan disappointment, forcing the members to spend their own anniversary managing a PR crisis [4, 5].
• Health rumors piled on top of the backlash. Amid the controversy, YG Entertainment had to separately issue a statement clarifying that “there is nothing wrong with” Jisoo’s health, showing how quickly the fallout spiraled beyond the original scheduling complaint [5].

Sources & Citations:

[1] Korea Times: BLACKPINK’s 10th anniversary event sparks backlash as only 40 fans invited
[2] allkpop: BLACKPINK faces fan backlash over limited 10th anniversary event with only 40 attendees
[3] allkpop: BLACKPINK’s Jisoo apologizes to fans ahead of 10th anniversary event
[4] Outlook Respawn: BLACKPINK Jisoo Speaks Out After Major Event Backlash!
[5] Sportskeeda: “There is nothing wrong with her health”: YG Entertainment clarifies rumors surrounding BLACKPINK Jisoo’s ill-health