Netizens react to ZEROBASEONE's dramatic stage exit as members leave one by one

15 Mar 2026, 18:14 by Janie-Reign · allkpop

Netizens are reacting to ZEROBASEONE's final stage exit as a 9-member group.

On an online forum, netizens are discussing the stage production of the group's final moments together as the full original nine-member lineup. The days of the concert were filled with tearful and moving moments, with fans joining the members emotionally both in person and online.

However, several netizens shared criticism toward their parent company CJ ENM, saying this form of stage production felt "too cruel."

The comments specifically referred to the way individual members were asked to exit the stage one by one after bidding farewell to the fans. Many described this style as an "forced tear jerker" and an "overly dramatic way" to emotionally manipulate the members and the audience, despite the fact that five members will still remain as ZEROBASEONE.

Meanwhile, netizens also pointed out that this appears to be Mnet and CJ ENM's usual way of handling survival program project groups. They noted that the same direction of having individual members exit the stage one by one was also used for previous groups such as BOYS24 and Wanna One.

At the same time, given this pattern, some netizens said they were "not surprised" by the tradition and wished all the members the best moving forward.

During the concert, members such as Park Gun Wook and Sung Han Bin were also seen shedding tears as he hugged his soon to be former bandmates.

Reactions include:

"This is insane... why would they go out of their way to do it like this? Seriously what is this, it hurts my heart so much..."

"Is the company sick or something? Why do they enjoy other people's pain???"

"They said the five members are staying as they are, so why the over the top dramatic staging;;"

"Sigh... it was so sad"

"They said Boys24, JBJ, and Wanna One did this too, so at this point it must be a CJ tradition"

"They really seem to like this kind of sociopathic directing"

"They'll probably do this again when they make another survival show group lol"

"JBJ did this too, and honestly it just feels unnecessary"

"You worked hard all this time ZEROBASEONEㅠㅠㅠ I hope all the members do well, I'm rooting for you"

"Why are they saying goodbye one by one like that when the group is continuing with five members?"

"Seriously, they got so much criticism for doing this with Wanna One before and they're doing it again?????"

"Seriously what is this? Both the members and the fans went through so much"

"This is giving me trauma from Wanna One's final concert again, seriously these people ㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ"

"They probably just wanted to say goodbye together as a group and leave the stage, but seriously this shows such poor judgment.."

"The concert hall was filled with the sound of tens of thousands of people crying"

"ZEROBASEONE, you all worked hard"

"It's so sad..."

"I seriously wish Mnet would stop doing survival shows"

"The fans who attended that concert are going to be traumatized"

"Who is the person closing the door right in front of my kid?"

"It feels really cruel to both the members and the fans"

What are your thoughts?

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