ENHYPEN Faces Backlash Over Drug-In-Water Challenge Video as Fans Criticize Crime Trivialization

ENHYPEN is facing backlash after a challenge video posted to the group’s official account on October 30 staged a prank in which a drug is slipped into someone’s water without their knowledge. Sports Chosun reported the controversy on October 31, noting cold fan reaction to the clip.

In the video, members Jungwon and Jay talk with glasses of water in front of them. Jay distracts Jungwon and slips a drug into the water. Jungwon then distracts Jay and swaps the glasses, so Jay drinks the doctored water without realizing it, collapses, and Jungwon dances excitedly. The sequence is staged, not a real incident, but that framing did little to soften the response.

The format, described as a so-called “awareness battle” challenge, is an overseas short-form trend in which one person slips a drug into another person’s drink while they are not looking. The ENHYPEN clip follows that template, building its punchline around the moment the unsuspecting person drinks and falls.

Critics argued that slipping a drug into water evokes a real crime, and that treating it as a joke was inappropriate. Some fans said the material was unsuitable to be consumed as lighthearted fun, while others pointed to the scene in which a person who does not know what has been put in their drink collapses, saying that image was difficult to brush off. The challenge’s overseas popularity did not excuse the staging, according to the criticism, and several fans said a famous idol group’s official account should have vetted the content more carefully before posting it.

No official statement was available.

The timing has added to the attention. ENHYPEN is currently on the “ENHYPEN WORLD TOUR ‘BLOOD SAGA’” across 22 cities, according to Sports Chosun, and is preparing the spin-off single “THE SIN : PARALLEL WORLD” for November. Announced earlier in October, it is the group’s third comeback of 2026 and the closing chapter of its “THE SIN” series, with a digital release set for November 20 and a physical album to follow on November 23.

The episode shows how quickly a short-form trend can become a reputational issue once it appears on an official account, where fans expect a higher standard of care. For now, the debate centers less on the members’ intent than on the premise itself, and whether a prank built around secretly drugging a drink should ever have been posted at all.