Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Over Christmas break, Elkie of CLC provided a bit of a shock when she filed for contract termination from Cube Entertainment, as well as proper payment for what she’s owed.
To Cube Entertainment.
We are the legal counsel of Miss Chong Ting-yan [Elkie’s real name] and we are sending this letter regarding the issue of terminating the exclusive contract between Miss Chong and your company due to the following reasons:
According to Miss Chong’s statements and materials she has provided us, Miss Chong signed an exclusive contract with Cube in February 2016. In the contract, it was stated that Cube would be the exclusive managing agency for Miss Chong’s entertainment activities. Following the signing of the contract, Miss Chong joined girl group CLC, and fulfilled the responsibilities that were outlined in the contract, followed the company’s guidelines and arrangements, and dedicated her time to training for acting as well. However, Miss Chong claimed Cube Entertainment violated numerous terms and conditions from the contract, as highlighted below:
First, during the contract period, Miss Chong’s income from her entertainment activities were collected by Cube Entertainment. However, Cube Entertainment never released any income statements or specific details to Miss Chong.
Second, after the signing of the contract, Miss Chong fulfilled the responsibilities outlined in the contract, and participated in the schedules that she was required to and arranged by Cube Entertainment. However, Cube Entertainment did not pay Miss Chong for her acting activities as outlined in Article 6.4 in the exclusive contract.
Third, due to Cube Entertainment’s management and internal structure changes, you informed the CLC members that there would no longer be any developmental support in 2020. Since then, Cube Entertainment has not provided any reasonable plans for Miss Chong’s future, and instead your actions showed that you would no longer fulfill the terms of the contract.
Based on the above, Cube Entertainment’s actions are violating the contract, and hindering Miss Chong’s development and growth in the entertainment industry.
They also say that her contract is invalid effective immediately and Cube has 15 days to provide income statements, lest further legal action be taken.
In short, they never told her how much she was making, they didn’t pay her for acting activities, and that due to the mess of Cube ownership she was told CLC would not be supported in 2020. Unlike other situations with members leaving, it’s hard to see another career Elkie could just walk into, so this stemming from frustration seems reasonable.
Elkie is surely out of the group at this point one way or another, which is a blow to CLC in itself, but if her statements are true then it sounds like CLC’s future in general could also be in danger. That’s a shame, as in recent years the groups has been on the upswing both musically and in terms of sales, appearing to finally cash in on their upside.
