“Big 4” Group Takes Drastic Action After Official Teaser Sparks Backlash

The photos had editing errors.

SM Entertainment is under fire after NCT‘s official accounts quietly deleted concept photos for the group’s 10th anniversary project following swift backlash from fans.

| SM Entertainment

The images, shared this morning on X and Weibo, were meant to kick off NCT’s 2026 anniversary rollout. Instead, fans immediately spotted what appeared to be AI-generated errors: an extra finger on Jisung and a noticeably distorted nose on Renjun.

| SM Entertainment

The posts were later deleted by the company.

| SM Entertainment

Fans called out SM directly, questioning whether the photos were properly reviewed before going live, and some pointed to AI as the likely culprit.

SIX FINGERS?! Did they use AI on this? @NCTsmtown pic.twitter.com/5veCffMJZA

— JISUNG 지성 GLOBAL (@JisungGlobal) May 14, 2026

런쥔인 코 눌려놓고
지성이는 손가락 6개 만들어놓고
참.. 미쳤나..

편집 검수 똑바로 안합니까 진짜ㅋ… 스엠아; pic.twitter.com/c6ZbHVSuLo

— slow 또죠⁰⁶ (@zhonglele06) May 14, 2026

While many praised the members’ overall appearance, the editing mishaps were hard to ignore.

It’s probably from compositing two photos together where his hand was slightly different and they didn’t clean it up well. It would be weird to use AI for this

— rachel 🥀 (@taewination) May 14, 2026

not just that, the glove is not even between his teeth 😭

— Mar☀️ (@starrytaiyou) May 14, 2026

SM has not addressed the controversy publicly yet.

NCT