The reason why I wanted to leave this post to later is that I wanted to get all my facts straight. There was a lot of controversy over Wu Yifan (Kris) leaving Exo and a lot was unknown. It was originial thought that SM stole Exo's phones except Baekhyun's and made them unfollow Kris on Instagram. This has now been found to have no evidence later backing it up. To read the articles concerning Yifan suing SM, here are links in order of how the news came:
http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/14/chinese-media-reports-that-exos-kris-asked-for-contract-termination/
http://www.hellokpop.com/news/exo-m-kriss-lawsuit-against-sm-entertainment-confirmed/
http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/15/reports-claim-sm-violated-exo-m-kris-basic-civil-rights/
http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/16/exos-kris-updates-his-instagram-with-a-message-to-fans/
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/sm-entertainment-files-official-lawsuit-against-former-exo-member-kris-aka-wu-yifan-641126
But, in light of all that there was an incident that happened before the suing occurred. Kris, in 2013, went on hiatus from the group, and went to visit family in Canada. The rumors were that SM had to convince him to come back. They even delayed their comeback because of this. Here are some articles concerning this matter:
http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/28891/20130525/exo-kris-rumor.htm
http://www.jpopasia.com/news/exos-kris-rumored-to-have-left-group-delayed-comeback::14090.html
But, as it turns out after almost two years have passed, we have finally have word on why he actually left in 2013 according to Kris himself. He also, in this report, tells us why he decided to leave in the first place. Instead of me summing up what he said, I think it would be better if you just read what he says about it. Here is the report:
http://www.soompi.com/2015/07/31/kris-wu-yi-fan-releases-official-statement-in-response-to-sm-entertainments-lawsuit/
But, enough about that and why he left, I also want to go over what the reaction of fans to this, my reaction to this, and leave links to what Tao and Lay have said about Kris leaving. Keep in mind that we might find out more as we go along because Lay wrote a book on Exo and his journey and he most definitely will include some of his thoughts on this in his book. The book is called,Standing Firm at 24. But, as a great number of us cannot read Chinese, we will have to wait for a translation. So, while we wait, let us keep in mind what Lay and Tao have previously said and keep in mind that a lot more goes on behind the scenes than what we see.
Fans were divided on this issue. Some fans believed that Kris had every right to leave. Others believed it to be a sense of responsiblity that Kris lacked which caused him to leave. Still others were still conflicted over the issue or thought Kris should have waited till after the first solo exo concert to leave.
My general first reaction was one of shock like most people but, I realized very quickly that we still had no real idea what was going on and decided to support both Exo and Kris. I quickly changed my facebook pictures to show support for Kris and I even ranted and spoke to my family on the subject. My siblings agreeded with me and I spent a lot of time on twitter checking through the tweets with the #WeMissYouKris and #WeBelieveinKris.
But, before I get into my reaction really I should state how long I have been a fan of Exo and how I got into them. I was into kpop back in early 2013, but, you can read about that in another post. I heard about Exo, and even picked two biases,one from Exo-M and one from Exo-K, Chen and Kai. But, I really did not become a fan till Exo Showtime. I watched Exo Showtime and I fell for the group as a whole. I watched all their music videos and was pretty involved. For most of us kpoppers, we know what a bad year 2014 was. First, Leeteuk's parents died in early 2014, the Sewol Ferry incident happened, the death of RiSe and EunBi, two members of Exo leaving, Luhan and Kris, and BAP suing their company.Not to mention all the dating scandals that were released that year, so, the hate againist those idols dating was huge. It was very unfair to those idols who just simply wished to carry on normal dating lives.
As some of the shock and despair at not seeing OT12 again has worn off and I have come to accept that Kris left, I have thought about why Kris did not tell any one in Exo that he left. The conclusion that I came to was this. Kris, did not know how to explain that he was leaving to the Exo members. For anyone who has watched Exo Showtime, it is very evident that Kris was not really one to express his feelings and thoughts very well. He liked to keep a certain image and it would be hard for anyone to tell their members that they were leaving. I can't image doing that myself, I would probably end up staying just because I couldn't decide how to tell my group that I was leaving. We need to also keep in mind that Kris was the first person to leave. It is always harder for the first to leave. He may have also know that his members would have most likely tried to keep him from leaving. They would have probably have said things like,''At least stay for the concert,'' or ''We can make it through this.'' It would be very hard to listen to those things, and then leave.
Here is the articles about what Tao have said on Kris leaving:
http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/15/sm-announces-exo-concert-will-go-on-as-planned-kris-attendance-unsure-other-members-speak-out/
Tao, later in this interview and mentioned in my post on Tao leaving has something else to say on Kris leaving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLA3oBvSdOc
Here are articles about what Lay said about all three leaving and Luhan and Kris leaving before:
http://www.soompi.com/2015/04/20/lay-discusses-the-impact-of-kris-and-luhans-departure-on-exo-and-sme/
http://www.koreaboo.com/news/lay-reveals-exo-members-asked-if-he-would-leave-the-group-after-departure-of-kris-and-luhan/
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/exo-member-lay-talks-about-former-teammates-kris-luhan-tao-will-he-leave-sm-entertainment-644631
I want you guys to keep in mind that all exo members were hurt when Kris left. So, some of them like Tao did respond in anger and in the moment. There was no way Kris could have left without someone getting hurt.
I think as Exo-L we should support OT12, in whatever the members decide to do.
One thing I would like to mention that was a good thing from all this is that we found out that each of these three members that left had more talent than were seeing from them while they were in Exo. Kris, became an actor and he can sing pretty well even though he is a rapper. LuHan became a model, actor (he even got a hollywood movie), and singer. Tao produced his own album and became part of a video game. Kris became an MC for a variety show, Luhan is on Running Man Chinese version, Tao got in a movie with Jackie Chan. All of them are doing well, and I am very proud of them.
(Updated May 10,2020)
We got a show with OT3 all on the same stage again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjtWF4DIx6E
Also, a few weeks ago Luhan and Kris collabed on a song together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gPltH46H_k
