[SBS Star] Lee Seung Gi Under Fire for Canceling Visits to Sponsoring Restaurants; Agency Responds

Singer Lee Seung Gi is currently receiving criticism from the members of Korean-American communities in the United States for what he did during his schedule in Atlanta, Georgia.  

On August 30, Lee Seung Gi held a concert 'The Dreamer's Dream - Chapter 2' at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta as part of his first-ever U.S. tour. 

Before the concert, it is said that Lee Seung Gi had to pay a visit to several concert-sponsoring restaurants in Koreatown that bought concert tickets and provided meals for him and all his staff members. 

He was supposed to go to the restaurants to take photos and sign autographs on the day of his arrival in Atlanta, on August 28, as well as the next day. 

However, the restaurants revealed Lee Seung Gi suddenly canceled his visits on the very day without discussion, citing 'physical state recovery' reasons.

Restaurant owners were extremely upset by his abrupt cancellation because they not only sponsored his concert but also had already informed their customers that Lee Seung Gi would be visiting their restaurants. 
Then on September 3, Lee Seung Gi's management agency Humanmade gave their official response to the issue. 

Humanmade stated, "Yes, there was a verbal agreement of Lee Seung Gi visiting those restaurants, but there was a hurricane on his way to the airport in Los Angeles. In addition to that, his flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta faced turbulence which led to the shaking of the aircraft. So, Lee Seung Gi reached Atlanta by 10 PM." 

They continued, "Considering he had a concert ahead of him, we believed making sure that his condition was fully recovered by the concert was more important than anything else. The concert was the most important scheduled activity at that time. Therefore, Lee Seung Gi and his team thought it was best to prioritize the people present at the concert." 

Lastly, the agency added that they also contacted the parties concerned and asked to be excused, emphasizing the cancellation was not completely one-sided. 
Meanwhile, media outlet ATLANTAK reported that only 949 out of the 2,800 available seats at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta were sold for Lee Seung Gi's concert. 

Out of these, only 500 were regular tickets, while the remaining were free tickets; as mentioned above, sponsoring Korean restaurants in the city had purchased hundreds of them to give to their customers for free in exchange for his visit to their restaurants during his stay in Atlanta. 

Following his Atlanta concert, Lee Seung Gi's agency announced that the New York show was canceled, and it was speculated that this could be because of the low sales of concert tickets.

But Lee Seung Gi's agency clarified that it was due to some issues from the venue's side. 

(Credit= 'byhumanmade' Instagram) 

(SBS Star)