EXO-CBX Faces Harsh Criticism From Korean Netizens Following Group Comeback Announcement

EXO is facing controversy over their upcoming fan meeting lineup, and fans are not happy.

The announcement of the EXO’verse fan meeting, scheduled for December 13-14 at Inspire Arena in Incheon, revealed which members will attend. The confirmed lineup includes Suho, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun, and Lay — but Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin (the EXO-CBX subunit) were missing.

This exclusion reignited tensions, especially since EXO-CBX has been publicly involved in a contract and revenue dispute with SM Entertainment earlier this year.

Fans were surprised to see Lay included despite limited group activities in recent years, while EXO-CBX was completely left out.

NO CBX???????? THIS ISN’T EXO
— ge ☆ (@mongtwink)

SM Entertainment also confirmed that EXO’s 8th studio album will drop in early 2026 after the fan meeting. However, the absence of EXO-CBX members sparked backlash on Korean forums.

Reactions on TheQoo included:

“I’m looking forward to EXO, as long as it’s not ChenBaekXi.”
“Way better than ChenBaekXi.”
“I’m not even a fan, but this is kind of hilarious. Not being sarcastic, it’s just genuinely funny.”
“LMAO, this is so funny.”
“Wait, didn’t they leave the group???”
“Wow, so ChenBaekXi really aren’t appearing, that’s wild.”

The EXO-CBX and SM Entertainment mediation results seem to have done little to calm fans, and the controversy is heating up ahead of the fan meeting and new album. Fans remain divided and skeptical about EXO’s true group composition moving forward.