Jennie and G-Dragon. Instagram: @jennierubyjane/ @xxxibgdrgn
South Korean idols Jennie of the girl group Blackpink and G-Dragon of the boy band Big Bang are dating, various news sites dedicated to K-pop reported on Tuesday.
But YG Entertainment, the label that houses both stars, said it could not confirm whether both idols are in a relationship, according to a report by Soompi.
“We can not confirm anything about our artists’ personal lives. We ask for your understanding,” YG Entertainment said in a statement published on the Soompi report.
The company made the statement after Korean news outlet Dispatch reported that the 32-year-old Big Bang leader and the 25-year-old Blackpink rapper had been meeting in secret, often having their dates at their homes.
The relationship is a widely known secret in YG Entertainment, and managers usually take Jennie to and from G-Dragon’s house, according to Dispatch as reported by Soompi.
In 2019, it was revealed that Jennie was dating Kai of the boy band EXO but the couple broke up less than a month after their relationship was made public.
Dating ban clauses were once common in the contracts of young K-pop stars as managers believed publicly-disclosed romances undermine the idols’ allure and career, industry experts said in a 2018 New York Times article.
Jennie, whose full name is Jennie Kim, debuted in 2016 with Blackpink, which was named as the biggest music act in the world by Bloomberg’s Pop Star Power Rankings list in 2020.
G-Dragon, whose real name is Kwon Ji-yong, debuted 2006 with Big Bang, often dubbed as the “Kings of K-pop” for helping spread the Korean Wave internationally.
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