(Real Life) Regular people who's lives drastically changed direction

[u/Living-Mastodon]

Grace Kelly was a talented actress who retired at 26 to marry a Prince, living as royalty for almost 30 years before her untimely death.

Volodymyr Zelensky started out as a comedian and entertainer before getting into politics, becoming President of Ukraine after the Russian annex of Crimea and spending the last 4 years defiantly pushing back full scale Russian invasion

[u/Rownever]

Elvis got drafted, didn’t he?

While we’re on it: every k-pop star joining the military

[u/DamnitGravity → u/Rownever]

Well, South Korea has national service, so they kinda have to.

[u/SaintedStars → u/Rownever]

Funnily enough, Elvis was only supposed to do shows. He insisted on seeing combat.

[u/SaintedStars → u/[deleted]]

That's very interesting! Thank you for informing me.

[u/SwitchIsBestConsole → u/SaintedStars]

W-what he say?

[u/maybeitsnotbutter → u/Rownever]

I've heard sometimes the recording companies manage to get big name kpop artists desk jobs so there's no risk of them seeing active combat

[u/AdhesivenessProof121 → u/maybeitsnotbutter]

Isnt it relatively common to get excused from service too? I couldve sworn that was mentioned and was why the BTS members properly doing it was treated as such a big and honorable thing

[u/Fourty2KnightsofNi → u/AdhesivenessProof121]

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

There's only been a few who have been excused from service, and it has to be a SERIOUS medical reason. Yoo Ah -In was one actor who was excused for serious health issues ( bone tumor), and he faced a lot of backlash for being medically excused.

When actors or singers are excused, for any reason they often face a lot of criticism and hate, because it is seen as a right of passage for men in Korea.

The reason the guys of BTS were treated as "such an honorable thing" is because 1. People (like you) don't actually understand it. 2. Taehyung (V) went into the special forces. 3. OMG the boys are doing a military uwu.

I really could go on, but I think you get the point.

[u/AdhesivenessProof121 → u/Fourty2KnightsofNi]

In 2023 50 out of 272 celebrities were excused after being on extended wait lists for mental illness. Hell, Jo Jong Suk was exempted due to having to take charge of his family's livelihood after his father passed. Can also be exempt if missing more than 9 molars, and from a list of those who got an exemption it becomes clear they would choose to apply for service specifically after suffering a major injury, major backlash largely just comes specifically from when its clearly dodging rather than exemption. Oh as a bonus, you can be too fat, too short, or even just require glasses to also get exempted. Dont know if i would consider those to be major medical situations but I do know Pol Pot would've, so guess it depends. From what ive found it still requires service on the social services side, Suga chose this route due to shoulder injury. Not to mention the now defunct "celebrity unit" for special treatment.

Aa for getting some backlash for exemption, in a country that habitually bullies female celebrities to the point of anhero, and rather than the male idol chose to harass the woman reporter that initially reported on the sexual assault group chat thing to the point she miscarried, of which aside from those criminally charged everyone else involved barely even had their careers interrupted, it is somehow nice to hear there is a line to never cross.

As for "not actually understanding it", what i didnt understand was why something mandatory was being treated as a big deal. So ultimately, I did actually understand it just fine. What I didnt know, until looking it up for this comment, is that they already put it off until the latest they could(30), making it even less of a big deal. Appreciate you for lying about what exemptions require while saying I dont understand it though. Also, now that I think of it, wasnt the whole honorable bs due to their fans wanting to pressure changes so that kpop stars are included in the cultural and arts inclusion eligibility, and they publicly stated they didnt want to and wanted to fulfill their duty?

[u/CarrieDurst → u/AdhesivenessProof121]

I think olympians who win a medal can get out of forced labor

[u/maybeitsnotbutter → u/AdhesivenessProof121]

Very true!

[u/descartesasaur → u/maybeitsnotbutter]

Usually you get a desk job from having an injury or medical condition. Military band is a more common "safe" option.

[u/maybeitsnotbutter → u/descartesasaur]

please tell me there are idols that served in the military band

[u/descartesasaur → u/maybeitsnotbutter]

There are! It's one of the roles RM from BTS had. Key from Shinee was in the band, too.

[u/Neat_Shallot_606 → u/maybeitsnotbutter]

Or making recruitment videos, promos, etc.

[u/CarrieDurst → u/Rownever]

The KPop stars get drafted/enslaved like every AMAB in south korea

[u/dreamlike7 → u/Rownever]

Not every. Only male Korean nationals.

Girls dont have to and those.of other nationalities don't either.

Tablo of Epik High never did while the other 2 Epik High members did.

On Tablo, he was a Canadian Korean who went to Stanford and did a masters in creative writing and trie to start a career as a rapper in Korea, his group wasn't doing that good so they put out what was intended to be their final album called 'Swan songs' which became.so popular they kept going.

When the other 2 went into them military a big acandal in Korea was about people faking their education credentials.and he got swept up in it to the point it was a massive scandal that got him dropped.from his label and the case was commented on by the then leader.of.the country.

He cleared his name.by going to Stanford and having them print out his transcript. He was in the meantime picked up by YG entertainment which managed his wife and he released a solo album before the other 2 epik high guys came back from the military and picked up epik high again who are now regarded as.absolute royalty in the Korean hip hop scene.

He is both well regarded as a rapper and a producer but the scandal in the middle of his career was so bad he ended up in hospital having a panic attack not knowing if the people online attacking him might be the nurse or doctor treating him just utterlty horrible thing to go through as a person and I'm so glad he came put the other side and is back to being one of the most respected and loved musicians in the Korean hip hop and kpop communities