K-pop girl group NewJeans have called for Min Hee-jin to be reinstated as the CEO of their agency ADOR in surprise YouTube livestream. It comes amid a heated feud between Min and HYBE, the owner of ADOR.
The members of NewJeans held a surprise 30-minute livestream yesterday (September 11) on a now-deleted YouTube channel, where they spoke about the ongoing HYBE-ADOR feud. According to member Hyein, the livestream was held without the knowledge of their agency, ADOR.
The quintet said that they had planned the livestream themselves as “there are things that we really have to say” and also revealed that they “helped by directors that we trusted on the things that we couldn’t prepare ourselves”, per Korea JoongAng Daily.
NewJeans later called for HYBE to return Min Hee-jin to the CEO position at ADOR, a little over two weeks after the K-pop agency announced that music executive would be stepping down from the role. However, Min has since alleged that it wasn’t her choice to leave.
“We hope that HYBE makes the wise choice to reinstate Min Hee-jin as the CEO of ADOR by September 25,” said Minji. “The ADOR that we want is an ADOR where the music production and company management are done by Min Hee-jin as the CEO. We make this request as the way to cohabitate peacefully with HYBE.”
The girl group also claimed that HYBE have been “bullying” Min over the ongoing feud, saying that they “feel so bad” for the music executive. “HYBE just seems like an inhumane company. What are we supposed to learn from such a company?” said Danielle.
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Elsewhere in the livestream, the members of NewJeans also claimed that they have been mistreated by some at HYBE, with Hanni recalling one alleged incident that occurred at the company’s headquarters.
“I was waiting in the hallway and an artist and their manager passed me by. I was going to say hello to them but the manager told them to ‘ignore her’ right in front of me, where I could see and hear everything,” she said. “I really can’t understand why I had to go through such a thing.”
The K-pop star said that she “told this to the new CEO” – Kim Ju-young, who was a director of the board prior to her appointment as the head of ADOR – who had allegedly “tried to gloss over the situation” because the NewJeans member had “no proof”.
“I felt that she had no intention of protecting us,” Hanni continued. “I was being frank with her but she made me feel like I was a liar in an instant. Min Hee-jin fought for us, but the new executives just keep telling us that it can’t be fixed.”
Prior to their now-deleted livestream, NewJeans shared support for Min during their award acceptance speech at The Fact Music Awards earlier this month. Before that, three members of the girl group voiced their frustration over the ongoing feud between ADOR and HYBE in online posts.