Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following allegations that the company was caught physically and verbally abusing members of OMEGA X, including an audio recording of an incident released by a fan, Spire Entertainment has responded and basically said that it’s all a misunderstanding that’s now been resolved.
It’s a four-paragraph response, but there’s really only one paragraph of note, in which they handwave the allegations away more than explaining … well, anything.
At the time, having completed the tour, the OMEGA X members and the agency were talking about how hard they had respectively worked up until then, in order to make plans for the future. In the process, they wound up airing their grievances against one another, and as they became worked up due to their emotions, they began raising their voices. The conversation continued even after the meal, but by continuing their discussions, the members and the agency have currently resolved all their misunderstandings, and they ended the conversation by saying that they wanted to move forward while being considerate of each other.
Spire are chalking it up to an argument, ignoring the physical assault allegations and the other fan account of verbal abuse that emerged independently and three weeks prior. Essentially they’re only recognizing the audio clip as legitimate and are trying to compartmentalize this controversy around that.
It also seems relevant to mention that the company CEO does appear to be a woman named Kang Seong Hee, the wife of company founder Hwang Seong Woo, so it’s likely her at the center of the allegations.
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Naturally, people aren’t just buying Spire’s shoddy explanation. However, even worse is their response to reports that they cancelled OMEGA X’s flight back to Korea from America after this story broke. Staff members arrived in Korea but the group didn’t, causing people to raise questions about where they were, and Spire’s CEO responded by mimicking the woe is me act heard in the audio clip.
In a phone call with SBS News, Spire Entertainment’s CEO Kang Seong Hee clarified that “the flight schedule had been subject to change for the past three days.” According to the management’s claim, the tickets were ultimately canceled to prevent the members from “sitting with the fans.”
“It’s a one-sided allegation started by an anti-fan who is hostile toward the management. I was exhausted because I’ve been up for several nights in a row. I even had a bloody nose because I was so tired. But the members didn’t think to make me feel better. They didn’t care about me. So I felt upset and acted out of disappointment. Usually, I’m extremely polite toward the members. I even use honorifics when I talk to them.”
I’m betting that “usually” is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
