2025 MAMA Awards to continue as scheduled

The 2024 MAMA Awards at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, on Nov. 23, 2024 [CJ ENM]

 
The 2025 MAMA Awards will continue as scheduled on Friday and Saturday despite the catastrophic fire in Hong Kong, CJ ENM confirmed.
 
“We express our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in the Hong Kong fire,” CJ ENM said in a statement released late on Thursday, less than 24 hours before the show’s scheduled 7:30 p.m. opening on Friday.
 
 
“Believing in the healing and unifying power of music, we are making careful plans for and readjustments to the [show], focusing on comfort and hope rather than grandeur,” it said. “We hope that music can bring even a small measure of solace and courage to your hearts.”
 
CJ ENM plans to hold a moment of remembrance for the victims of the fire and make a donation to support those affected.
 
This year’s MAMA Awards, one of the largest K-pop award shows in Korea, had been slated to take place at Hong Kong’s newly completed Kai Tak Stadium. But after a major fire broke out at an apartment complex in the city, questions arose over whether the event could proceed as planned.
 

Firefighters work to extinguisha fire that broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong’s New Territories on Nov. 26. [AP/YONHAP]

Kai Tak Stadium sits about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the apartment complex. The fire began on Wednesday and has left at least 55 dead, with hundreds reported missing.
 
According to local reports, organizers are considering canceling the livestream and airing the show at a later time. However, CJ ENM said that no final decision has been made.
 
Meanwhile, SM Entertainment donated 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,600) to the Hong Kong Red Cross to support its relief efforts. SM’s girl group aespa and boy band Riize also donated 500,000 Hong Kong dollars and 250,000 Hong Kong dollars, respectively.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]