NewJeans’ legal representatives have publicly accused HYBE of discriminatory treatment, stating that the girl group is the only HYBE act to face such challenges. They pointed to a series of incidents to back up their claims.
According to News1 Korea, NJZ’s legal team stated that HYBE has shown discriminatory behavior towards NewJeans, a situation they believe is unique to this group within the company.
“HYBE’s large-scale media play, abandoning NJZ to make a new girl group, ILLIT’s plagiarism controversy, and the fallout with Dolphiners Film happened between 2023 and 2024. No other artists under HYBE have experienced this type of treatment except NJZ.”
“HYBE’s other labels have continued with unfair practices, but ADOR doesn’t have the ability to prevent these actions. If this had happened in another company, it would not have been ignored like with NJZ.”
These representatives emphasized that this perceived discrimination is evident and specifically pointed to instances involving Source Music’s group, LE SSERAFIM, as examples.
One of the key points raised by NJZ’s legal team is the alleged broken promise regarding NewJeans’ debut. They stated that HYBE had initially assured NewJeans that they would be introduced as HYBE’s first-ever girl group. However, after the debut evaluation of NewJeans in March 2021, the legal team claims that HYBE allegedly neglected the group until September of the same year. This period of neglect, according to NJZ’s representatives, is a clear indication of discriminatory treatment.
“HYBE originally promised NewJeans’ debut would be HYBE’s first girl group. However, after NewJeans’ debut evaluation in March 2021, HYBE neglected the group until September 2021.”
Further fueling the discrimination claims, NJZ’s side brought up a specific incident involving brand ambassadorships. They detailed an instance where Hyein, a member of NewJeans, was chosen as an ambassador for a particular brand. However, they claim that LE SSERAFIM was later also appointed as ambassadors for the same brand. When NJZ representatives sought clarification from the brand, they were reportedly informed that HYBE had requested the addition of LE SSERAFIM as ambassadors, allegedly without prior discussion or agreement with ADOR or NewJeans. The brand reportedly even apologized to NJZ for this situation.
“Additionally, Hyein was chosen as the ambassador for a specific brand, but suddenly, LE SSERAFIM was also named as ambassadors. When we inquired with the brand, they confirmed that HYBE had requested it and assumed that they had talked about it with us first. The brand even apologized for the matter.”
As the legal battle continues, ADOR maintains its stance that the contract with NJZ remains valid. Conversely, ADOR argues that NJZ has breached the contract through rebranding efforts. The claims of discrimination add a new layer of complexity to the ongoing dispute between ADOR and HYBE concerning NewJeans’ management and contractual agreements.
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