NCT's Jisung Reveals SM Told Him to Avoid Viral "GG" Slang During Weverse Live

NCT’s Jisung has revealed that his agency told him to stay away from a viral internet slang, and fans found the whole thing oddly charming.

During a recent live broadcast on the NCT Dream Weverse community, a fan asked him, “Jisung, do you know ‘jwe-jwe-iya’?” The NCT member looked flustered before admitting, “Jwe-jwe-iya? I was told not to do this… it might be something like that?” — indirectly confirming the company had cautioned him about the phrase.

The slang is a uniquely pronounced take on “GG” (Good Game), the classic game-end greeting. Popular with Korea’s MZ generation, it started as a loser’s sign-off in online games and has since expanded into a self-deprecating catchphrase used whenever things don’t go as planned.

According to Sports Kyunghyang, the restriction is understood as image management: since the buzzword grew out of internet broadcast and meme culture, SM Entertainment reportedly blocked its artists from using it to avoid any unexpected controversy or unwanted connotations.

Jisung isn’t alone. Carmen of fellow SM group Hearts2Hearts recently appeared on Mnet Plus’s “Idol’s Table” and similarly said, “They told me ‘yaru’ is not a good word,” showing how thoroughly major agencies now manage their artists’ speech.

Fans largely backed the agency. “Assigning forbidden slang per team is funny,” one wrote, while another added, “We don’t really want to hear that tone from idols anyway.” No official statement was available.