South Korean rapper Park Jae-Sang, who is professionally known as Psy, was at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 23, Friday, for his annual year-end concert. During the event, he took the opportunity to deny the rumored link between him and Choi Soon-sil, South Korean Shamanistic-Evangelical cult leader Choi Tae-min's daughter.
"I wanted to speak out about the rumors but I didn't because I thought they were so worthless and preposterous," Korea Times quoted the "Gangnam Style" rapper as saying. He told the audience that although he thought people would just ignore the groundless rumors, all he received were comments criticizing him and he felt people believed them.
"We are going through such a troubled and chaotic time," Psy said. He told the audience during his year-end concert that it was time to see the old year out and the new year in.
Soon-sil is the prime person of interest in a political scandal involving her influence over South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Her former husband Chung Yoon-hoi is the former chief of staff of the president.
Psy was accused of getting invitations to high-profile events involving President Park with the help of Soon-sil. Rumors further claimed that the rapper received other favors and that he was a member of an entertainers' football team called FC Hoeori controlled by Soon-sil's elder sister, Choi Soon-deuk and her daughter Jang Si-ho.
The rumors emerged in November. Since then, Psy has been keeping a low profile while his agency YG Entertainment has debunked the rumors.
Because of the rumors, the release of Psy's eighth studio album was delayed. It is set to be released in 2017.
Psy's seventh studio album "Chiljip Psy-da" was released on Dec. 1, 2015. One of the nine tracks in the album is the collaboration song "Daddy" featuring former 2NE1 member CL, who is set to have a collaboration performance with G-Dragon for SBS Gayo Daejun 2016, XPorts News has learned.
Watch the music video of Psy's "Daddy" featuring CL here: