The parents of the members of NewJeans have allegedly spoken out about the treatment of the K-pop girl group in a newly released letter. However, HYBE claims that the letter was actually written by ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin.
The letter, allegedly written by the parents of girl group NewJeans’ members, was released today (May 13) by South Korean news outlet eDaily. The letter was reportedly first sent on March 31 to ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, who later shared it with HYBE on April 3.
HYBE has since responded to the letter’s release in a statement to SpoTV News, claiming that the real authors of the letter are Min and an unnamed vice president from ADOR. The music giant also denied several allegations in the letter, including claims of plagiarism and neglect.
“We express deep concern over the controversy that has risen with many similarities in concept […] between NewJeans and a group that debuted under another label of HYBE,” the letter reads, as translated by Soompi. “It is deeply regrettable that another label under the same parent company could plan a team that is intentionally reminiscent of NewJeans.”
“If these situations continue, this will undoubtedly damage NewJeans’s reputation and brand value,” NewJeans’ parents alleged, while claiming that the members of the girl group are “experiencing severe mental distress in this process”.
In the letter, NewJeans’ parents also claimed that HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk would “ignore the NewJeans members and their greetings whenever he ran into them at the company”, alleging that “this happened on several occasions”.
Elsewhere in the letter, HYBE was also called out for the alleged “broken promise” of NewJeans not being the first girl group to debut under the music giant, saying that “it has become clear through various incidents that HYBE does not respect NewJeans”.
The letter ended with a “request” for ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin to “take the best possible measures to eradicate the ongoing plagiarism disputes caused by HYBE and the marketing activities that exploit [these disputes]”.
Meanwhile, in its response, HYBE alleged that Min has “drag[ged] in artists and their families in her own battles for her personal greed”, while claiming that it has evidence the email was “part of the plan for the takeover of management rights [of ADOR by Min]”, as translated by Soompi.
“Min Hee-jin suggested using the parents to raise issues because it would breach the shareholders’ agreement if she did it herself,” HYBE added. “We plan to submit this evidence to investigative and judicial authorities.”
The alleged letter by the parents of the NewJean members comes amid an increasingly heated feud between ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin and HYBE over the ownership of the NewJeans label. Just last week, ADOR announced an upcoming shareholder meeting to vote on whether to dismiss Min Hee-jin as CEO.
The post NewJeans’ parents allegedly speak out against HYBE in newly released letter appeared first on NME.
