New SM Entertainment “SMTR25” Trainee A Victim Of Major Backlash For Having Same Name As HYBE Idol

He became the first trainee to officially be announced.

At the start of the year, the SM Entertainment male trainees went viral after making their debut at 2025 SMTOWN.

Visuals Of Male Trainees Revealed At “SMTown 2025” Go Viral

On April 1, SM Entertainment started introducing new trainees as part of SMTR25, including one called Nicholas.

When the tweet was shared…

The young trainee was hit with a wave of criticism because he has the same name as &TEAM‘s Nicholas, who debuted through HYBE‘s show &Audition –The Howling under the company YX Labels (formerly HYBE Japan).

Netizens hit back at the fact the new SM trainee would be debuting with the same name and the issues it could cause.

Are you seriously telling me this is part of their marketing strategy? I want to kill them. They’ve got nothing else to take, so now they’re stealing something from &TEAM? They have no conscience.

There’s already a 5th-gen male idol actively promoting under that name, and they still went ahead with it…?

What the hell. A huge company just completely steamrolling over a small one like this? His real name is already unique and totally fine, so why the hell would they do this? SM, tell me this is just an April Fool’s joke.

This level of audacity is seriously insane. The fact that they’re stubbornly refusing to change the name is also insane. Honestly, everything about this is just insane. In such a small industry, do they really want to use the same name? Lol.

Some international fans defended the trainee idol, pointing out how there are many idols with the same name, and it’s immature to blame Nicholas, especially as it is his birth name.

It isn’t uncommon for idols to share the same name.