Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Alright, so I guess the headline news of this HYBE/ADOR/Min Hee Jin/NewJeans update is that NewJeans is no longer NewJeans according to NewJeans, but is instead now New ‘Dirty Jerz’ Jersey NJZ.
As you can see in the post, Complex appears to have their back or something (brands continuing with endorsements has been a thing), and they’ll debut as NJZ at ComplexCon in late March in Hong Kong, where they’re also reportedly premiering new music.
As you might imagine, given the veritable cornucopia of legal lawsuits that are ongoing, ADOR is none too thrilled with all this.
It is deeply regrettable that the members made this unilateral decision before any legal ruling has been made regarding the validity of their exclusive contracts with ADOR.
ADOR will continue to do our best to protect the brand value of NewJeans.
Honestly, I don’t have the legal expertise to know if this is a good or bad idea in terms or risk/reward. I do know that them staying relevant somehow as this long legal process plays out is probably the only path forward for NJZ no matter which way the case turns out, so I get the decision on that front, though I don’t know if it actually hurts their chances of winning or not.
So yeah … I mean, I hate to sound like a broken record in these articles, but at the end of the day the results of the lawsuits will probably matter most.
——
Speaking of legal outcomes, HYBE was recently cleared by the Ministry Of Employment And Labor of the workplace bullying complaint filed by the former ADOR employee that came up with the alleged escape plan for NewJeans that started all this.
On January 13, sources revealed that the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office, under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, concluded last month that “the allegations of workplace bullying at HYBE were not substantiated” and administratively closed L’s complaint.
L’s complaint targeted five key executives, including Kim Joo-young, ADOR’s current CEO, and Lee Kyung-jun, ADOR’s internal director and HYBE’s CFO.
Additionally, speaking of the brands continuing on with NJZ endorsements, the members retained a legal team as a result of ADOR trying to put a stop to independent contracts through an injunction of their own.
Through the media, we confirmed that ADOR has not only filed a lawsuit against us to “confirm the validity of our exclusive contracts” but has also applied for an injunction to “preserve the agency’s status and prohibit the signing of advertising contracts.” We received the lawsuit and application documents a few days ago, and we have appointed Shin & Kim LLC as our legal representative.
Since ADOR and HYBE have appointed Kim & Chang as their legal representative, we believed it was necessary to have a law firm capable of responding to them. To address the rapidly progressing injunction, we felt that Shin & Kim, which is already familiar with the issues and wrongdoings of HYBE and ADOR, is the most suitable choice.
I mean, surely they had to see that coming.
Now if you were hoping this would be over anytime soon, well the first trial for the ADOR/NJZ contract trial is gonna start in April.
According to industry sources on February 6, the Civil Agreement Division 41 of the Seoul Central District Court has scheduled the first hearing for the exclusive contract validity confirmation lawsuit filed by ADOR against NewJeans members on April 3.
Joy.
At least a couple months more of people projecting their assumptions at me over this instead of being normal.
