Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Unfortunately folks, I was far too optimistic that both sides of the HYBE/ADOR mess were going to just fight it out in court the rest of the way.
Rather, things are escalating again as Dispatch released HYBE’s side of the Source Music defamation lawsuit, and — if you missed the two updates yesterday — ADOR responded, then Source responded to ADOR’s response.
Now there’s more.
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To start things off, the parents of NewJeans have given an interview condemning the release of yesterday’s report. Dispatch, HYBE, and Source were the targets of their ire.
Minji‘s mother shared that dorm conditions at Source were mold and insect ridden, they had no specific plans, and would finish training at 2 AM to walk home. She claims they weren’t allowed to see the conditions for a year or so. She says Minji wanted to continue at school but Source pressured her to drop out, and is happy that they got to move to ADOR. The mothers of Hyein and Haerin hit back at the insinuation that they were disloyal for leaving to ADOR. Haerin’s mother also says the releasing of the pre-debut videos showed a lack of ethics, while Danielle‘s mother expressed concern with the leaks to Dispatch, as that info couldn’t have come from anybody but HYBE or Source. She also claimed that when Danielle signed to Source, they were told she would be a part of HYBE’s first girl group. They said Hanni‘s mother also agrees, but apparently is in Australia at the moment.
The mothers said that after the debut evaluation, they were left in the wind for months, so they were happy to move to ADOR. They explain that there’s evidence to reveal if necessary, and want HYBE to leave ADOR alone.
They finished with an interesting topic, mentioning that their debut song was Min Hee Jin’s work.
“For example, ‘Attention’ is a debut song brought directly by CEO Min Hee-jin. Danielle also participated in writing the lyrics. It’s shocking that Source Music released the demo and practice videos of ‘Attention,’ which have nothing to do with Source Music, without our consent. We have sent a proof of content letter to Source Music and Dispatch. Despite having many witnesses to the facts, HYBE continues to fabricate stories that could be misunderstood. This is frightening,” they sighed.
That seems to be in direct response to the argument online where people are saying Source did the debut work for NewJeans or something. However, 250 and FRNK are from BANA and connected to Min Hee Jin through SM Entertainment/f(x) and stuff (also why Krystal is with them now, I’m guessing). I won’t rule anything out, but to me it seems likely that the groundwork did happen at Source, but a lot of the creative team went with Min Hee Jin to ADOR, hence why everything about NewJeans’ debut (good and bad) seems to have her fingerprints all over it.
In terms of the claims of the parents, it’s not exactly difficult to believe that they were basically abusing children — not specific to HYBE or Source, but just because that’s literally what the industry is built on — and it’s also not hard to believe that Source was particularly messy with direction and vision considering GLAM* and GFRIEND. That said, it’s also hard to believe their past angles that HYBE has mistreated them while at ADOR, and while I’m sure they like ADOR and Min Hee Jin, a lot of that also likely has to do with her being their meal ticket now. Especially so since they didn’t seem to care much about things Min Hee Jin has reportedly said about their daughters.
*Justice for GLAM, they are the first HYBE girl group, you fuckers.
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Now onto the legal slop, as Min Hee Jin has actually followed through this time and filed a lawsuit against five HYBE executives for defamation, obstruction of business, illegally accessing records, and violating a communications act, naming HYBE CEO Park Ji Won, Audit Committee Chairperson Lim Soo Hyun, Chief Legal Officer Jung Jin Soo, Chief Financial Officer Lee Kyung Joon, and Chief Communication Officer Park Tae Hee. It basically revolves around alleged illegal leaks, and that they edited and distorted personal convos for PR purposes.
HYBE has said they will file a counter lawsuit for false accusations, denying they forcibly acquired anything and that she submitted her laptop and that the information came from her company e-mail account (the shaman stuff*).
*Sending those messages through your company e-mail is fucking INSANE.
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If you can’t tell, my enthusiasm for the legal shit is waning significantly, and I just want them to get to the court rulings and shit.
At least the shaman texts and all that are still insane and entertaining.
