A file photo of Stanford University.
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Amid a blockbuster run of shows at Stanford Stadium, one of the members of BTS is going viral for replicating an iconic scene in K-pop history on the Bay Area college’s campus.
The spot, near Stanford Graduate School of Education, became known as the “Crying Tree” after Cardinal alum Daniel Lee, better known by his stage name Tablo, wept there during a scandal that nearly ended his career.
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NOT NAMJOON ACTUALLY GOING TO THE STANFORD ‘CRYING TREE’ LKE HE PROMISED TO TABLO AND EVEN DRESSED UP LIKE HIM LMAOO😭😭 pic.twitter.com/HyuynUU6IF
— Carolyne🌱⁷⁼¹ (@mhereonlyforbts) May 19, 2026
Tablo was born in South Korea and raised in Canada; a writing genius, he was admitted to Stanford in 1998 and simultaneously finished a bachelor’s in English literature and master’s in creative writing in just four years. After completing his education, he moved back to Korea and and began making hits with his friends DJ Tukutz and Mithra Jin in the group Epik High. The trio became superstars, setting records as a groundbreaking Korean act before BTS even debuted. Then, it all came crashing down.
A controversy over a rapper’s college degree is almost impossible to imagine in the U.S., but the witch hunt nearly destroyed Tablo. In 2010, he was riding high, personally and professionally. He was one of Korea’s most successful musicians, and he had just married Kang Hye-jung, an actor who was world famous for her role in “Oldboy.” But that year, a website called “We Demand the Truth from Tablo” appeared online. The site claimed Tablo never graduated from Stanford, as it was impossible to be awarded a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in four years. Soon, the site had 200,000 members.
At first, it just struck Tablo as ridiculous. But as the fervor grew, his family became targets. The online mob accused his mother and brother of also faking their career accolades, and the harassment was so relentless that his brother was fired from his job at a TV station. Stanford employees were inundated with emails from Korea demanding to know if Daniel Lee actually graduated.
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Hoping to quash the rumors, Tablo reached out to the Stanford registrar’s office. The registrar agreed to release his transcripts and issued an unequivocal statement: “Daniel Seon Woong Lee entered Stanford University in the Autumn Quarter of 1998-99 and graduated with a BA in English and an MA in English in 2002. Any suggestions, speculations or innuendos to the contrary are patently false.”
Epik High attend the opening ceremony of the 29th Busan International Film Festival on Oct. 2, 2024, in Busan, South Korea.
Woohae Cho/Getty Images
As it so often happens with conspiracy theories, Tablo’s harassers refused to move on; they simply moved the goalposts. Faced with Stanford’s statement, they instead said Tablo must have stolen the identity of another Daniel Lee. They honed in on a mechanical engineer from the Midwest who shared Tablo’s name and graduation year, insisting this must be the man who Tablo was impersonating.
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“I was doing everything they asked and it was never good enough,” Tablo told Stanford Magazine in 2011. “That’s when I realized that they weren’t looking for answers, they just wanted to destroy me.”
At his wit’s end, Tablo agreed to partner with a journalist from MBC, one of the biggest public broadcasting stations in Korea. He traveled with an MBC crew all the way to Stanford to show, once and for all, that he was the same man who Stanford knew to be Daniel Lee. Looking onto Meyer Green, sitting on a bench in front of three trees, Tablo broke down in tears. Although he’d proven himself time and again, he believed his career was likely over.
In the months to follow, the Korean justice system finally stepped in. Police learned the identity of his primary accuser, a Korean American office worker in his 50s. The man was living in Chicago at the time, and although a warrant was issued for his arrest in Korea, he was never taken into custody.
Tablo’s name was cleared — at least in the eyes of the law — but he wondered if he could ever rebound. “Honestly, I’m damaged,” he told Stanford Magazine. “And I don’t know if I’ll ever be better.”
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He pulled back from public appearances and focused on his family — amid the chaos, he and his wife had a baby girl. Slowly, though, time did heal those wounds. As the members of Epik High became middle-aged dads, they decided to make an unexpected pivot: creating some of the funniest goofy dad content on YouTube. They’ve grown to nearly 2 million subscribers.
Last year, Epik High flew to the Bay Area to tour the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno. As they were wrapping up their visit, Mithra and Tukutz ambushed Tablo with their next stop: They were taking him back to Stanford. Annoyed but resigned, Tablo let them drag him onto the campus and back to the infamous spot where he’d broken down 15 years prior.
Once there, Mithra and Tukutz surprised Tablo with the hoodie and black beanie he wore in the original shot, forcing their friend into replicating the moment. Afterward, they tried to figure out how to add “CRYing TREE BY TABLO” onto Google Maps, dubbing it a “sad tears landmark.” (They were unsuccessful.)
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Earlier this year, BTS members RM and Suga sat down with Epik High for an interview. BTS’ rappers have long been inspired by Epik High — j-hope used the same iconic sample at the beginning of his song “Outro: Ego” as the Epik High hit “Go,” and Tablo appeared on RM’s solo album “Indigo.” During the chat, Tablo excitedly asked if they were actually playing his alma mater during their Arirang tour and demanded they pay tribute to “the most famous place” on campus: the Crying Tree.
“Hey, you have to go to ‘Crying Tree’ and take a commemorative picture too,” Tukutz insisted.
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This week, RM heeded his words, biking around the Stanford campus and taking a photo at the iconic spot. He went above and beyond: He even brought an outfit and black backpack that matched Tablo’s original look.
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“omg he actually went to the crying tree,” Tablo posted on Instagram.
BTS is in the Bay Area for just a bit longer: They play Stanford for the third night on Tuesday before heading to Las Vegas for four shows.
BTS perform at Stanford Stadium on Saturday, May 16, 2026.
Courtesy of Bighit Music