Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Okay, so remember that thing with EXO’s Xiumin allegedly being blocked by KBS from appearing on Music Bank due to pressure from SM Entertainment? Well, that has since escalated and then maybe deescalated over the past few days.
Shortly after INB100 and KBS released conflicting statements, MC Mong went on a rant where he accused SME’s CEO of being duplicitous and claiming he had evidence of power abuse via recordings. A day later, Lee Mujin (under BPM Entertainment) was a no-show for his own show (Lee Mujin Service) and a recording for comedian Lee Soo Geun‘s (also BPM) show Ask Us Anything Fortune Teller was cancelled, supposedly due to a lack of communication between sides. The Boyz (under ONE HUNDRED) were also speculated to be involved in this, with questions about their appearance on Lee Mujin Service in doubt, as well as member Juyeon‘s appearance on The Return Of Superman.
A report then emerged that back on February 28, SME reps (including the CEO) met with KBS’s entertainment head, which led to suspicions that it was related to Xiumin’s situation and was followed by a weird clarification.
Initially, SM had downplayed Lee’s visit, saying he had no reason to go, but later explained that it was to support the debut of the new SM’s girl group Hearts2Hearts.
SM denied the claim that their representatives went to the sixth floor, stating they only greeted Hearts2Hearts in the waiting room of “Music Bank.”
The entertainment head of KBS dismissed the report by saying he was busy elsewhere, and amusingly just shit on Music Bank, “I don’t know where this information is coming from, but out of the 20-odd programs in our entertainment division, I wouldn’t have time to focus on ‘Music Bank,’ which is one of the lowest-rated K-pop programs.“
Of course, it’s not about the ratings when it comes to these types of deals, it’s the principle of the thing. But regardless, at least it’s a funny quote.
Following this, parent company ONE HUNDRED released a statement referring to the KBS entertainment head saying that miscommunication was the issue in all this. They also say they look forward to those issues being resolved as alluded to, and Lee Mujin and Lee Soo Geun will return to recording next week.
At the “2025 KBS Spring New Variety Show Presentation” held yesterday morning on March 7, 2025 (KST), Mr. Han Kyung Choon, the head of KBS Entertainment Center, addressed the ongoing issue, stating, “This is a bit of a miscommunication between the production team and the agency. We are not considering another host in Lee Mujin’s place. We believe that, by waiting and keeping an open line of communication, we will eventually come across a good opportunity to work things out.”
In response, we trust Mr. Han Kyung Choon’s statement and will ensure that our artists, including Lee Soo Geun and Lee Mujin, will return to their scheduled recordings starting next week. We ask for KBS’s full cooperation in this matter.
All that said, they explain they have still not received a response to Xiumin’s exclusion.
However, as we stated in our initial statement in regards to why Xiumin was unable to appear on Music Bank, we have only received an unofficial response that ‘It is not possible to feature artists from certain agencies simultaneously.’ We believe this is an unfair treatment of our artist and have attempted to communicate with KBS multiple times. However, aside from a media response claiming the allegations were ‘groundless,’ we have yet to receive any concrete explanation.
We are still awaiting KBS’s official statement regarding Xiumin’s exclusion from Music Bank.
So … after all that action, at least on the surface, it seems like we’re mostly back where we started when all of this first emerged with Xiumin and INB100 awaiting a response.
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Anyway, I understand those who are skeptical about ONE HUNDRED, and especially about MC Mong given his history, because I have similar misgivings about how they’ve operated. That said, the kind of backroom meeting between executives that immediately preceded Xiumin having issues (allegedly using Hearts2Hearts as leverage) is simply right out of SME’s historical playbook with regards to this stuff, and I simply find it hard to give them the benefit of the doubt or really any sympathy ever when it comes to these disputes. Mostly, I just worry about the other artists on both sides who are being used as pawns in this posturing game, and at least for their sake I hope they can settle this like adults for once.
