Thur Established 1961 Lifestyle TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019 Taylor Swift performs onstage during the 2019 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. — AFP ans mourned and questions blackmail in August and was given and Sulli are picked up by agencies were asked Monday after K- a suspended jail term, but the star at a young age-usually in their ear- Fpop star and revenge porn had been targeted by abusive ly- or mid-teens-and live under victim Goo Hara was found dead in online comments since the incident. tight control, with their days taken a possible suicide, which would Before her body was discovered on over by grueling singing and danc- make her the second female singer Sunday her Instagram account was ing training. in a month to take her own life in flooded with hate comments about Earlier this year Goo had spoken the high-pressure industry. The her appearance and her history out about abusive comments, body of Goo, a member of former with her ex. depression, and her difficult life as a girl group Kara, was discovered Goo made her debut in 2008 celebrity. “We have to be careful Sunday evening at her home in with Kara-for several years one of about every move we make in our Cheongdam, one of Seoul’s wealthi- the two biggest K-pop girl groups- lives and are suffering from a pain est neighborhoods. Police were still and pursued a solo career after the that we can’t share even with our In this file photo Welsh actors Anthony Hopkins, right, and Jonathan Pryce, left, attend the AFI investigating her cause of death group broke up, completing a tour friends and family,” said Goo, FEST gala screening of ‘The Two Popes’ at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Every story and Yonhap news agency reported of Japan last week. Her death adding that anyone can struggle needs its hero and its villain. they were “keeping the possibility sparked an online petition on the with depression. “You all have free- of suicide in consideration”. website of the South’s presidential dom of expression, but can you very story needs its hero and its vil- stop being so grim about everything,” said In May, the 28-year-old star office calling for stronger punish- please look back on yourself before lain. So when Fernando Meirelles the “Silence of the Lambs” Oscar-winner. apologized to her fans after being ments for cybercrimes and abusive posting a hate comment?” she said. Edecided to make a film about Pope hospitalized following a suspected online comments, which garnered Fans mourned the star’s death Francis and Pope Benedict coming face- Church scandals suicide attempt, saying she had more than 20,000 signatures in less and lamented that she was unable to-face, the director knew which pontiff Pope Benedict’s shock 2013 resignation been “in agony over a number of than a day. to hear the voices of support. he would side with. For the first time in came against a backdrop of child sex issues”. Goo was abused by an ex- “It was not long ago that we lost This picture shows K-pop star Goo “The stars appear to have a shin- seven centuries the Catholic church has abuse scandals and financial corruption. boyfriend last year who-after they someone through hate comments Hara arriving at Incheon International ing presence but they live with a two living popes, and “The Two Popes” These events are touched upon in the split-blackmailed her over their sex and this cannot happen again,” the Airport, west of Seoul. pain that no one will understand,” imagines a series of spirited debates film, but only fleetingly. At one point, videos. The ex, hairdresser Choi petition said. “Please protect the a fan wrote on Goo’s Instagram between the strict, conservative Benedict Francis hears Benedict’s confession- Jong-bum, threatened “to end her people from hate comments and dissuade many South Koreans from account. “How many more victims and his charismatic successor. including his knowledge of historic sex entertainment career” by leaking criticisms that are spreading like a seeking help. Goo’s death comes a after Sulli and Goo will there have “At the start of the film for me Benedict abuse allegations against Mexican priest the footage, and a CCTV clip of virus.” Goo’s last Instagram post on month after Sulli-a fellow K-pop to be to understand that hate was the ‘bad pope’ and Francis was the Marcial Maciel. But the audio quickly the couple showed the singer Saturday evening showed her in star and her close friend-took her comments hurt others?” the writer ‘good Pope’,” said Oscar-nominated fades to silence, leaving the audience to kneeling before him apparently bed with the caption, “Good night”. own life in October after a long added. Another fan wrote: “Maybe Meirelles (“City of God.”) But as the fill in the gaps. begging him not to. struggle with online bullying. you couldn’t hear the voices of movie progressed, and the Brazilian direc- “I had to be very careful not to go (too) In the conservative South, Shining presence Beneath the glitz and glamour, love and support because the tor learnt more about both men, something far,” said Meirelles. “We had more lines on women who appear in such videos South Korea has one of the the K-pop industry is known for its voices of hate were too loud. My started to change. “I read some of his child abuse (in the script) but if I had two often feel shame-despite being the world’s highest rates of suicide cut-throat competitiveness, lack of heart aches.” — AFP writings. And I watched some of his ser- extra paragraphs on that it would become victims-and face ostracism and which, according to recent govern- privacy, online bullying, and relent- mons. And he’s interesting,” the director a film on child abuse. “He knew that a spe- social isolation if the images ment figures, is among the top less public pressure to maintain a told AFP at the film’s recent premiere. “I cific Mexican cardinal had issues with become public. The man was con- causes of death for those under 40. wholesome image at all times and think the press created this image of a kids, and he didn’t do anything, to avoid a victed of multiple crimes including Taboos about mental illness also at any cost. K-pop stars like Goo Nazi, which is not really ... he’s not very big scandal.” Nonetheless, Benedict different from Pope Francis actually.” emerges as a surprisingly likeable figure- The two men on screen bridge their something Meirelles attributes to Hopkins’ differences, bonding over Benedict’s considerable charm. piano-playing and Francis’ beloved foot- “As a dramatist, I had to love both char- ball team in conversations at the Pope’s acters equally,” added writer McCarten. “I summer residence, and in the Sistine had to start to learn and see the world Chapel. The Netflix film, starring Welsh through his eyes. Benedict “stands for tra- screen legends Anthony Hopkins and dition, orthodoxy, for something depend- Jonathan Pryce as Benedict and Francis able, for a moral compass. Which is time- respectively, has quietly emerged as an less, an eternal truth. And there’s a Oscars contender. It was written by New strength in that.” The film also covers, in Zealander Anthony McCarten, whose last flashbacks, a dark period in Francis’ past. three films-”The Theory of Everything,” As head of Argentina’s Jesuits, he was “Darkest Hour” and “Bohemian accused of cozying up to the country’s Rhapsody”-have all won the best actor brutal military dictatorship in the 1970s. Oscar for their leading men. “Francis was and still is known as a divi- McCarten told AFP that “career-best sive person in Argentina. It’s talked about performances by both men” in his latest in the film, it’s not shied away from,” Pryce film were undoubtedly worthy of Academy told AFP. The “Game of Thrones” star said recognition. There are “no more fitting he studied Francis’ “flaws and weakness- recipients than either of them,” he said at es”-as well as his more admirable traits, the American Film Institute’s AFI Fest. like tackling inequality and climate Hopkins said the glowing response to the change-to develop the character.—AFP film had been a “big surprise,” expressing hope that it could teach the world some- The portrait of late K-pop star Goo Hara is seen surrounded by flowers at a memorial altar at a hospital in Seoul. — AFP photos thing about tolerance. “Let’s talk, sit down,.