Yet more highschool levels of drama in the world of K-pop as Ador issues a statement urging Belift Lab to publicly apologise to NewJeans member Hanni, following the allegation that a Belift Lab executive told members of fellow K-pop group Illit to ignore her when they crossed paths at HYBE’s HQ.
Both Ador and Belift Lab are owned by K-pop giant HYBE, which is desperate to downplay the many recent Ador-related dramas to employees, shareholders and investors. Last month HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang tried to reassure employees that things were getting back on track saying that the “knot would gradually untangle”, as HYBE’s fluctuating share price spooked investors in the company’s bonds.
The latest statement comes as Ador works hard to fix its relationship with NewJeans, who are strong supporters of the label’s ex-CEO Min Hee-jin, who was pushed out of the top job in August and formally resigned as a director of the label she co-founded last week. That resignation was not the end of Min’s very public feuding with HYBE though, and earlier this week she filed a criminal complaint against two communication executives who work for the K-pop powerhouse.
Even before Min’s formal resignation, members of NewJeans submitted a list of grievances to Ador’s current management, with rumours that the group might terminate their contract with the label if the issues they raised weren’t dealt with. Today was reportedly the deadline for addressing those issues.
Possibly anticipating that deadline, Ador issued a public statement yesterday addressing Hanni’s previous allegation against Belift Lab.
In that statement Ador says that it has “maintained a cautious stance” since Belift Lab issued its own statement rubbishing Hanni’s claims. This - perhaps somewhat optimistically, given the proclivity for soap opera drama in the K-pop industry - was to “avoid unnecessary controversy involving our artists”. That bird may have flown though, and so Ador has now issued its statement in hope of “clarifying its position” in the continuing controversy.
While Belift Lab disputes Hanni’s claims about what actually happened when she and members of Illit passed each other at HYBE HQ, Ador says, “Hanni clearly remembers that on May 27, 2024, a member of Belift Lab made remarks involving her, such as, ‘ignore her’ or ‘just ignore and pass by’”.
It is “unreasonable and harsh”, continues Ador, “to expect the victim to recall every detail of the incident, which occurred in a relatively short moment”. However, it adds, “Ador and its members fully trust our artist’s words and genuinely regret the harm Hanni has suffered”.
With that in mind, it concludes, “we hope that Belift Lab does not take Hanni’s suffering lightly and shows mutual respect, and we expect a sincere attitude from Belift Lab in this matter to ensure that unnecessary controversies involving Ador’s artists do not continue”.
So, let’s see how that turns out shall we? And if this whole fracas seems somewhat bizarre, the wider Min v HYBE spat is getting even more bizarre. Earlier this week she filed a criminal complaint with Seoul’s Yongsan Police Station accusing two HYBE PR execs of allegedly downplaying the success of NewJeans when talking to the media, despite them being employed to do the exact opposite of that.
The HYBE PR people “not only failed to fulfil their obligations but caused significant damage to NewJeans and Ador by downplaying the group’s achievements”, a spokesperson for Min explained. Which may be true, and would be annoying, but could it really be an actual crime? We hope the “appropriate criminal penalties are imposed”, Min’s representative added.
It’s never dull these days in the world of corporate K-pop.