\u201cAfter open and thoughtful conversations together, we are sharing that Manon will be taking a temporary hiatus from group activities to focus on her health and wellbeing,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cKatseye remains committed to showing up for one another and for the fans who mean everything to us. The group will continue scheduled activities during this time, and we look forward to being together again when the time is right.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, speculation about the true nature of the hiatus decision \u2014 and whether or not Bannerman herself actually wanted to take a step away \u2014 began over the weekend after the 23-year-old pop star took to social media platform Weverse to release her own message<\/a> to fans, assuring them that she was \u201chealthy,\u201d \u201cokay,\u201d and \u201ctaking care of\u201d herself. \u201cSometimes things unfold in ways we don\u2019t fully control, but I\u2019m trusting the bigger picture,\u201d she wrote on the platform<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n How have Katseye fans responded to the announcement?<\/p>\n Quickly, fans started posting their suspicions that the hiatus announcement was not Bannerman\u2019s decision and that the Swiss-Ghanaian performer was being unfairly targeted and set up to leave the group permanently by their K-pop label Hybe. Katseye made their debut in 2024 after it was picked from thousands of trainees during a grueling two-year training program-turned-reality competition show, portrayed on Netflix\u2019s Pop Star Academy: Katseye<\/a>. As the only Black woman in the six-person group, fans have long-theorized Bannerman has been singled out and picked on by her label, fans, and even some of her fellow bandmates. Despite Katseye\u2019s meteoric rise to fame, as well as Bannerman’s own breakout popularity, her removal at such a pivotal point in the band\u2019s career, even if reportedly temporary, marks a familiar and sinister trend for many pop fans of girlgroups.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack girls in pop groups keep getting the same raw deal,\u201dZaria Farah<\/a> wrote shortly after the hiatus announcement for Blackpolitan, a platform amplifying the global Black soundscape.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s everything we know so far about the hiatus, the fan response, and why people are threatening to hang up their Eyekon hats forever if Bannerman leaves the group.<\/p>\n How did Katseye get to this moment?<\/p>\n It\u2019s no doubt in anyone\u2019s mind that Katseye has been having their moment from a 2026 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist<\/a>, appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/a>, and breaking records with their Gap jeans ad<\/a>. Made up of Bannerman, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Yoonchae Jeung, Sophia Laforteza, and Daniela Avanzini, Katseye has been lauded by long-time K-pop fans and American pop audiences alike for its use of the K-pop idol training style while simultaneously smashing some of the industry\u2019s well-known rigidity<\/a>. Namely, fans are living for a pop group actually being racially diverse as well as having two openly queer members (Raj and Skiendiel) among other divergences from the typical K-pop playbook<\/a>. Bannerman<\/a> and Raj<\/a> in particular have been praised for respectively making necessary space for South Asian and Black women in the K-pop genre.<\/p>\n However, breaking the mold hasn\u2019t come without its critiques and challenges. Bannerman\u2019s speculated mistreatment<\/a> has been the subject of conversation since before Katseye officially formed. During the years-long Hybe training program designed to replicate the musical, performance and dance schooling K-pop idols receive, Bannerman was scouted from social media, particularly as a strong candidate to be the \u201cvisual\u201d of the group, a term in K-pop<\/a> for the most model-like member of a group responsible for brand endorsements.<\/p>\n Despite being hand-picked for the program and Hybe executives repeatedly praising her natural \u201cstar quality,\u201d unlike many of the other girls, Bannerman was portrayed as \u201cunprofessional\u201d on Netflix\u2019s Pop Star Academy for not coming to practice, while other members who did not come to practice didn\u2019t receive the same edit<\/a>, as fans have pointed out.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing called lazy, especially as a Black girl, is not fair,\u201d Bannerman told The Cut<\/a> in a February interview. \u201cNow I feel like I always need to put in extra work to prove something, even though I really don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout Katseye\u2019s rise to fame, fans have continued to point out instances in which they feel Manon was unfairly singled out, such as not being featured in the \u201cGabriela\u201d music video<\/a>, choreography that seemingly hides her during performances<\/a>, and not being visible in the Instagram post featuring the group\u2019s Glossier billboard<\/a> ad.<\/p>\n How has Manon responded to Katseye\u2019s announcement of her \u201chiatus\u201d? Lola Young Wins First Grammy After Returning From Mental Health Break<\/a><\/p>\n The British singer took home the award for Best Pop Solo Performance for her viral hit \u201cMessy.\u201d<\/p>\n In light of the hiatus announcement from Hybe and Bannerman, fans and even fellow pop stars have rushed online to figure out what is actually going on. Soon after the statements were posted on Friday, people online began posting screenshots<\/a> of Bannerman liking posts that discussed how racism impacted several pop groups\u2019 only Black members, such as this popular Instagram video by content creator Simone Umba<\/a>. The star also seemed to have followed fellow Black female pop stars who have spoken about racism they faced in their respective girl groups, such as Fifth Harmony\u2019s Normani and Little Mix\u2019s Leigh Ann Pinnock.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to protect each other,\u201d Pinnock commented under an X post about Bannerman\u2019s hiatus.<\/p>\n Other musicians<\/a> in the industry like SZA and Chl\u00f6e Bailey have also voiced their support for Bannerman amid the controversy. Fans have continued to rally around Bannerman, with some even calling for a boycott of the group until she is reinstated.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up as a girl group super fan, it felt like the Black members who offered me a semblance of representation were treated like diversity-quota-filling afterthoughts by their management, marketers, and certain fans,\u201d Annabel Iwegbue wrote for Cosmopolitan<\/a>. \u201cThis track record is what, to me, made Manon\u2019s role in Katseye feel revolutionary during the group\u2019s nascent era.\u201d<\/p>\n Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n Originally Appeared on them.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/f1e631f910b53654719b51fd188dc92c.jpeg\"\/)
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