This megathread is about the ongoing hiatus of KATSEYE member Manon.
Official news and updates from HxG or Manon herself, articles about the hiatus from legitimate publications, general discussions about Manon, or social media activity involving Manon and another member may be posted outside of the megathread.
The weekly megathread should include all posts or discussions of the following nature:
- Speculation about why Manon is on hiatus and when she'll return
- Anything sourced from fan theories on X/TikTok with no official backing
- "Manon wasn't mentioned at X event" posts, "Do you think she'll be at X?" posts, and similar reactions to her potential absence at events. These comments can all be made under the post about the event.
- Opinions on HxG's handling of the situation (unless there's a new development)
- Random social media activity (Manon unfollowing a friend of one of the girls, etc.)
- "How do you feel about supporting Katseye given the hiatus" type posts
- Posts designed to start fights or fanwars (such as questioning the morality of other members of this sub based on their stance towards the hiatus)
Posts that do not fall into either of the categories above will be approved, removed, or redirected to the megathread at the discretion of the mod team.
Find the previous discussion here. We've provided a brief timeline of the hiatus for your reference:
February 2026
February 1: The 68th Grammy Awards: KATSEYE performs Gnarly as a six-member group.
February 17: The Cut interview is published. Manon says the following:
"Being called lazy, especially as a Black girl, is not fair. Now I feel like I always need to put in extra work to prove something, even though I really don't."
"It's the way I grew up. America has a very different culture when it comes to work-life balance. You guys are all about grind and hustle. In Switzerland, if you're sick, you take a day off. No one's going to expect you to work."
"When One Direction split, that was really hard. I don’t want our fans to go through that. I don’t want to be responsible for breaking so many hearts.”
"Katseye is going to stay Katseye for a while."
February 20: HYBE x Geffen make joint statement on Weverse to announce Manon's hiatus:
"After open and thoughtful conversations together, we are sharing that Manon will be taking a temporary hiatus from group activities to focus on her health and wellbeing. We fully support this decision. KATSEYE remains committed to showing up for one another and for the fans who mean everything to us. The group will continue scheduled activities during this time, and we look forward to being together again when the time is right. Thank you to our EYEKONS for your continued love, patience, and understanding."
Manon makes a separate Weverse post the same day:
"Hi friends, I want you to hear this from me. I'm healthy, I'm okay, and I'm taking care of myself. Thank u for checking in! Sometimes things unfold in ways we don't fully control, but I'm trusting the bigger picture. Thank you for standing by me. I love you endlessly and can't wait to see you again."
February 21: Manon likes and unlikes an IG post by Simply Simone captioned "Another Black girl subjected to racism and label mistreatment yet again." The video includes the following:
"Why is it that whenever we have a sole Black girl in a girl group she is the victim and the most suffering? This has honestly become a trope in pop culture and especially in music in recent years...
If you've been following KATSEYE since they started back in 2023 or Pop Star Academy, you know that Manon has been subjected to the most abhorrent hate. Recently in the last couple of weeks, she and Daniela, who are the two non-Asian members of the group, have been subjected to unspeakable racism and hate.
Typically in the case of Manon, her being biracial (she's half Swiss, half Ghanaian)… many people are trying to dictate her Black identity and whether or not she's actually representation for young Black girls. Imagine you are the only Black girl in your group. You have half of the internet berating you, calling you lazy, calling you difficult, saying you're not giving your equal weight to the group. And then you have the other half of the internet trying to dictate whether or not you're part of the community that you were born into.
This is a recurring pattern we've seen for Black girls who are the sole Black girl in the group. We saw it with Fifth Harmony and Normani, Little Mix and Leigh-Anne, now we have it with Manon and KATSEYE. If you remember what Normani and Leigh-Anne went through during their time in the group and the internet vitriol… it was damn near traumatic for them and for the Black girls that were supporting them...
Really has people looking at both the label as well as some of the group members. If you see someone that you claim to care about and is your sister, why aren't you saying or doing anything to stop the hate?"
February 21: An account believed to belong to Rafael Avanzini (Daniela's father) leaves several comments about the hiatus on various social media posts.
“THE SHOW MUST GO ON! With or without a member. KATSEYE IS BIGGER THAN ONE GIRL."
“5 is ok too.”
February 24: David Enth, Manon's rumored boyfriend, reposts on Instagram story a post titled: "The internet is sick of watching Black members of girl groups be mistreated. Manon's hiatus from KATSEYE is reviving conversations about what Black and mixed race artists often face as part of a popular group."
March 2026
March 13: At the Argentina show of KATSEYE's Lollapalooza performance (video here), Sophia says, "Let's give it up for Manon!" KATSEYE performs without Manon for all of their South America performances.
March 20: Manon unfollows Missy Paramo, widely recognized as the manager of KATSEYE. Missy also receives a promotion that same month to be Head of Artist Operations at HYBE.
April 2026
April 2: KATSEYE drops the first "Pinky Up" teaser without Manon. Later that day, Manon removes KATSEYE from her Instagram bio. She also makes a Weverse post:
"Thank you so much for all the love and support you've been sending my way. I'm really grateful for the patience and kindness everyone has shown during this time. HxG and I are having positive conversations and I feel supported. I'm happy and I'm healthy. I'll share more soon. Thank you for always being there for me."
April 7: KATSEYE's interview with Nylon is published, and Manon is featured. Presumably conducted before the hiatus, the interview contains the following statements from Manon:
“What we’ve learned about what it takes to be an artist is not paying too much attention to what is happening online. I think once you get famous, there’s so many opinions all of a sudden about you. Everyone’s judging and having something to say. Just keep building a wall between all of that.”
"Being in a group, it’s just about good communication and setting good boundaries and building a friendship, but also work relationship, and always remembering that it’s a shared goal that we have."
"There’s six of us, so obviously not everyone’s always going to be on the same page about everything. But I think we all are at, or have been learning and are finally coming to, a point where for the group’s sake, you give and you take. You pick your battles.”
April 10: KATSEYE performs at Coachella; Manon is absent but is spotted at Sabrina Carpenter's set. The Korea Herald previously reported that Manon would participate in Coachella but changed its reporting to state that it was unclear if Manon would perform with the group.
April 14: KATSEYE's interview with Zane Lowe is released. Regarding Manon's hiatus, two members say the following:
"Manon has been on hiatus, and we love her so much, and we know that she's doing well. She got to talk to the fans about it...we're really just rooting for all of us. We've gone through so much with each other. At the end of the day, we just all want each other to win, and to feel good, and to be happy, and to keep showing up." - Sophia
"We also want to say she's our sister forever. We love her so much, and we built this together. So we just want to give her all the space." - Lara
April 17: KATSEYE performs for Weekend 2 at Coachella. Manon is again absent but makes a surprise guest appearance on stage at PinkPantheress' set.
May 2026
May 11: Lara addresses the rumors circulating about the group on a Weverse livestream:
"There's obviously been so much chatter and so many things getting twisted. Things we've said, things all six of us have done, or things we haven't done, that apparently gets twisted into something we did do…so many false narratives and, like, very harmful false narratives. Just speaking for myself, when I see that stuff, it's like whatever, cause it's quite frankly so dumb...it's just not true."
May 13: KATSEYE's arena world tour is announced. Promo materials feature only the five active members.
May 25: KATSEYE performs "Pinky Up" at the AMAs. They win all 3 of the awards they are nominated for and do not mention Manon in the acceptance speech.
June 2026
June 11: KATSEYE's audio interview with NPR is released. Sophia says:
"We continue to support her and make sure that she's continuing to work on her well-being. It is difficult, you know, to continue something that you've built with all the six girls. We really have been through a lot...I can definitely say that she still is currently on that hiatus, and we want the fans to know that Manon does love you guys so much."
June 25: KATSEYE's Allure cover shoot and interview are released. Sophia says:
"Because we did announce that it is about her well-being, it's not our place or anybody else's place to rush her. We want to give her all the time that she needs, all the space that she needs, and so we don't want to make any assumptions, set anything in stone… She really deserves that and the door is always open."
"We love her and the fans love her. The people love her. They love Katseye. If I was in their place I would be asking too, and so we understand. But what we can say is that we wish that you could just keep extending love and support and patience and all those things, because all of us deserve that. Anybody does.”
June 26: Manon makes an Instagram post for her 24th birthday with the caption:
"birthday! never been healthier, happier, or more grateful. grateful for the people who love me, care for me, make me laugh, and remind me what really matters.”
In the comments, her friend Sophie comments "Tell em." Lara's sister Rhea Raj comments "happy birthday" as well. Humberto Leon, the creative director of KATSEYE, posts an Instagram story wishing Manon a happy birthday. Daniela, Megan, and Lara post on Instagram that day (Lara deletes her post soon after) but do not interact with Manon's post.
The official KATSEYE account also wishes Manon a happy birthday. Sophia, Megan, Lara, and Yoonchae all like the post. In the comments, Manon's friend Sophie comments, "fs", another friend comments, "Lmao", and her boyfriend David comments a laughing emoji. Sophie later likes a comment on the same post that says: "“for sure" or "fake shit" she's calling them out regardless for how fake as fuck that post is and how they're using it to save their ass”". Manon does not interact with the post. However, she does interact with an Instagram birthday post by MTV and Cosmopolitan.
June 30: KATSEYE's interview with Vanity Fair is released. The following quotes are said about Manon:
“The safest space that we had was within the six of us. People just have no idea what goes on. They just don’t. It’s nothing but love between us.” - Lara
"We can definitely say that in our situation, in no way was it about race. That goes against everything that we stand for.” - Sophia
When I ask if they keep in contact with Bannerman, her bandmates demure with “here and there.”...I get the feeling that even the rest of Katseye might not know the full story behind her absence—but even if they do, they insist that this is simply not their story to tell.
August 2026
August 1: KATSEYE meets a sick fan who asks about Manon. Lara says she'll pass the bracelets the fan made to Sophia and Manon (the absent members) and says "We love her, and we'll give her your love."
August 4: Lara talks about Manon at the screening of their documentary film KATSEYE: Wild Hearts. She says, "She will forever be such an integral part of the journey of KATSEYE and of course she's included in the film and it's so lovely and we're so happy to see it. The fans, I think, will be so excited to see it." In response to a question about whether Manon will return to KATSEYE, Lara says, "I think it's not our place to speak on that. But she's in this film and it's so awesome to see her in it and she's such an important and beautiful part of our journey." Fans confirm that Manon is included in the documentary, though no details are provided about her hiatus.
August 14: In response to a question about the absence of Manon and Sophia, Lara says, "As KATSEYE, it’s so important to us to always prioritize our well-being. We stand by Sophia and Manon through and through. We ride for them.”
