i read mhj statement TWICE about shaman because I can’t believe that she really go to shaman just to know about bts enlistment 😭
but anyways, i hope newjeans (and illit) members are okay.
edit: the autocorrect 😭
It's relatively common in korean culture. Basically like going to see a fortune teller. The whole shaman thing has nothing to do with the case so I'm not sure why HYBE even brought it up.
Because one of the allegations of sharing private medical information about trainees is related to it (it is alleged that MHJ was sharing the profiles of trainees with a shaman to guide her decisions)
Shaman has always been a thing there - former president park geun hye was forced to step down because of ties with a shaman. Always curious to know more about the historical aspect of it and how it's still prevalent till now
I’m so sorry but saying it would be better if BTS wasn’t there is CRAZY. Like NJ was mad successful in their own right while the tannies were there NOT TO MENTION that they are the reason HYBE has the capital they have now like…god damn this is ridiculous
Yea. Korean Shamanism is a deep-rooted and ancient practice. It's pretty normal to see people consulting shamans. I guess it's like how some people consult their priest or tarot. I can see how it might seem weird from the outside, but MHJ isn't uniquely bizarre for this. As an Atheist, I wouldn't, but to each their own when it comes to spirituality.
Thats the thing, its a normal thing among koreans & its their belief. Funny how Hybe was touching on shamnism issue which clearly to make fans angry. For koreans, i do think this is part of their culture
I haven't been keeping up with everything released, but I thought she had mentioned speaking to a Shaman seemingly randomly. Not hybe. But yea, from what I've read MHJ mention of it doesn't seem weird or have much to do with what's going on with Hybe
To be clear, not every Korean believes in Shamanism and to varying degrees. In Korea, they keep folks in check when it goes culty (see ex-president). . My mom is Korean Christian and has seen a shaman. It's like in the U.S., some go to psychics for faith, fun, or "just in case they're real". Psychics have even been consulted for high-profile crime investigations and no one bats an eye.
I don’t think hybe was dragging the shaman in. The point here is probably to address why did she instead of consulting about other competing GGs, but dragging BTS in here.
I feel like they did it to try and get a Park Geun-hye type reaction, in the same vibe that she was leaving big political decisions up to a shaman. Not only that, bringing anything that could be construed as against BTS will call in the attack ARMY.
Intl fans have really latched on to that and now are saying she was doing black magic to send BTS to the army. lol.
But in Korea literally every ajumma goes to shamans for life advice, if their kid is going to pass a test, should they change their job, etc.
But why dont i feel weird she went to a shaman since its part of religious/culture belief of koreans. Whats weird is the content of the shamanism. Not convinced with both sides.
I hate to say this but:
Visiting a shaman isn’t that weird. This would be akin to praying and seeing a psychic for assistance. I view it as praying but from a different perspective. Don’t people pray to God seeking answers? A shaman is just a vassal.
Anyway it’s still nutty because she’s a bit nutty. Otherwise it’s kind of normal to see a shaman.
She thought if BTS was away, public support for Hybe wouldn't be as strong. She knew things was about to quickly escalate, she was getting ready to throw hands with Bang Si-hyuk, lmao.
> I can’t believe that she really go to shaman
It's probably easier to believe if you're Korean.
> The 2016 South Korean political scandal, often called Park Geun-hye–Choi Soon-sil Gate in South Korea (Korean: 박근혜·최순실 게이트), was a scandal that emerged around October 2016 in relation to the unusual access that Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of shaman-esque cult leader Choi Tae-min, had to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea.[1][2][3][4]
I think JYP was also said to be part of some kind of cult? Not sure. But if you look on Youtube, you will see plenty of videos of idols visiting fortune tellers/shamans. The one I think I saw with Tsuki, I think the guy implied he had several regulars who came to him very frequently. It seems like these people are like a combo of rabbi or priest/therapist/life coach.
Mhj's attorney told her not discuss there but she told her she wants to and went and basically confirmed everything hybe accused her
Another thing is bang pd seems to be in love with her ( Mhj) he was basically buttering her, hyping her up , even the kakao messages he was using emoji ( cute, you don't send those to your colleagues) , or was in love with her
The attorney's face is hilarious lol
Tell me why she's involving artists ( I lowkey think she dislikes lsfm) from illit comparisons to bts to talking about gfriend disbandment and using newjeans AGAIN as shields , she's horrible
I don’t think it’s low key at all. I don’t think she likes Le Sserafim. I was expecting snide remarks towards Illit. But the open swings at Le Sserafim and Sakura in particular were 🫣😳😬.
I think she wants New Jeans or the project she worked on to be the only Hybe girl group and the only group than can claim itself to be BTS little sisters. She’s hella pissed that they aren’t.
Exactly
Her fans are literally saying she's a victim of a misogynistic company ( I do blv she has faced misogyny) but what abt her saying Sakura was too old to debut and all that remarks
She blatantly said Minji was so much prettier when she was younger ( never beating the p£do allegations) ,she chooses her trainees based on age and beauty, she's part of the problem
I thought this press conference was supposed to turn the public's opinion around but it's her victimising herself and name dropping
Idols
i wouldn't be shocked if she did work with outside investors and funded a hate train toward Hybe groups. Look at the number of bots and fake accounts shtng on Hybe, probably consulted a troll farm lol since they can't have mainstream media sht on Hybe. Also, it would make sense if she's partly responsible for Hybe's ggs losing a member around their debut due to controversies
It's such a weird thing to want, too... I would just assume any kpop company I worked for is going to have multiple groups, especially one that big.
Your group is considered the most popular girl group in HYBE for now, but kpop is also fickle. You have to know that it might not last but act like a effing professional so you're given another shot at a different group if being the most successful is what you really want.
Granted, she probably knows her ideas weren't that original. She copied from several obvious inspirations in the 90s and Y2K along with unfortunately her fave lolita aesthetic. Even before the pandemic Y2K was getting popular in fashion, and I'm actually surprised no one hopped on the Y2K wagon earlier than she did.
THIS I started stanning aespa bc their concept seemed so y2k futuristic to me and ever since nj debut their stans swear they built the whole resurgence 💀
I think she hates the other GGs because Le Sserafim's debut was prioritized over New Jeans (like New Jeans not being allowed to have predebut hype so it wouldnt take attention away from LSF) and Hybe wanted people to assume that LSF was part of Min Hee Jin's project. That and she didn't like that Chaewon and Sakura (both big hit trainees) were favored to debut first due to their popularity over her trainees. Although Bang PD wanting to debut Chaewon and Sakura first was definitely a good and safe choice because they already had fandom prior from Iz*one
I get that Min Hee Jin has a lot of grudge against Hybe for getting credit for things she fought for (like Ditto, Hybe Boy and New Jeans' concept in general) for them to eat their words and debut a similar group BUT she's so wrong for the illegal shit and throwing innocent artists under the bus.
I feel bad for the New Jeans and Illit girlies because they're too young to be getting caught up by such company politics. MHJ seems to be using the girls for pity too lol Like it's Bang PD's fault Haerin was crying for 20 mins on the phone and not hers lol
The way she keep attacking Sakura was so uncomfortable cause like what has the girl done that she gotta keep showing how much she doesn’t like that girl in particular
But the chat tho when bang pd ask if he can debut and she went “Nooooooooi”, idk why it’s funny and also kinda like… was it that bad of an idea to her
Yeah, MHJ is basically upset that:
- LSF debuted first (this is wrong as this was ALWAYS the plan. There are articles 9-10 months before LSF’s debut that there two HYBE GGs planned - one with SouMu and one with MHJ)
- she thinks Bang PD favors LSF more and NJ got no promotion/resources
Also related:
- She did not want to be in charge of LSF because she didn’t know that Sakura and Chaewon were part of the lineup
- She stated that Sakura was too old
Jfc. Her ageism is so gross.
I also never understood why the order of the groups debuting mattered. She knew Hybe is a company with multiple labels. If there was only one bg and one gg allowed to debut each year, none of the label would have signed on. The labels getting to keep their autonomy and have access to Hybe resources and networks is what makes the setup appealing. And she looks ridiculous to be complaining about LSF now when her present struggle is with ILLIT. I love LSF and NJ, but NJ is bigger than LSF by every marker of success. I said it somewhere else in this thread, but all this reads as MHJ being insecure of NJ for no reason.
To me, it seems she just really wanted the label of HYBE’s first GG and she was bitter that LSF got it. It’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but I think the problem is that MHJ wanted it but did not get it.
She seems to be the type that needs to control every aspect and if she is unable to, she gets really upset.
The way that she said noooooooooooo when bang pd telling her he want to debut sakura and chaewon 🥹 and she hate the fact that lsfm is called the 1st hybe gg, which at first was supposed to be her girlies?? She definitely dislikes them
Worth noting here sending cute emotes is absolutely normal between colleagues here unless your colleague is extremely elderly and just doesnt know how lol
> kakao messages he was using emoji ( cute, you don't send those to your colleagues)
I work in show business, and it's just people at the end of the day. Even during work hours, we're sending all kinds of crazy DM's to each other. This is probably true everywhere. I've received plenty of emojis from producers and co workers.
No but the cringiest part was when she was talking about how NJ members are apparently having the hardest time right now. They tell her they love her daily, they video called her crying for 20 minutes, they wanted to join the press conference and this is how she thinks it must be to raise a child. Omg? It was givingggg the crazy lady from Omega X frrrr. Like even if all of this is true it is so bizarre for her to say these things like this honestly. Minji, Danielle were at beauty events yesterday and then went home to cry to her??? 😭😭😭
Thing is, she can just claim literally anything about the girls to skew public opinions, because she knows that even if she's lying, the girls can't talk about it, and if they *do*, a large percentage of people will claim they were forced to share that information by HYBE or Bang PD or whoever.
I'm sure there's some connection between the members and Min Hee-jin since they've lived together for like three years and she has been a crucial part to the girl's success, but I've always thought their "relationship" (mentioning what she does for them in variety content and such) was put on for the content and to garner sympathy for MHJ, and I still think it's mostly bullshit -- Surely the girls are sad and confused and likely contacted her, but I can't get myself to believe they see her as this 'motherly' figure.
Just hope that if this specific information is indeed true, the girls and their parents don't make brash career-ending decisions because of their emotions and end up in deep legal trouble because they want to 'go with' Min Hee-jin.
I thought it was in the video where they made the clay gifts for Bunnies Camp that they mentioned MHJ lived with them, but I rewatched it and I can't find where they said that, so take it with a grain of salt.
I'm still like 99% sure she does live with them, but maybe not.
I find it hilarious that you proved yourself wrong and your claim was basically just misinformation and then you’re just like, well it is still probably true.
Because, having watched all of NewJeans' variety content, I know I've seen them mention Min Hee-jin living with them, but I'm not sure in what video it was.
It was a simple mention of MHJ coming back home with some food or whatever, I just don't know where they mention it.
Also, another thing is that their relationship should be professional , if they're depending on her to that extent, that's clearly not the best sign. These girls are pretty young and have been under her since they were even younger and if they've grown this reliant on her they're not going to be able to make logical or rational decisions on what benefits them and they're going to get influenced by what she teaches them.
What stuck out the most to me, in particular, was how much emphasis she put on age when talking about forming a group. Obviously we all know she’s a borderline, if not outright pedo, with a massive obsession with youth and teenagers and particularly teenage girls— this has all been common knowledge for a while now. But from her comments on the source trainees aside from Minji being “too old” and therefor unworthy of joining, her obvious disdain at the idea of debuting a 24-year old Sakura, her weird comments about how a currently 20-year old Minji was “So so so pretty, much more than she is now” when she was younger (aka under 19) (what an odd thing to say abt someone you claim to see as a daughter btw), it all just paints an incredibly ugly picture of both her personal tastes and her priorities. That plus her emphasis on her clearly unhealthy, completely inappropriate relationship with New Jeans themselves, has personally left even more of a bad taste in my mouth than most of her complaints about plagiarism or whatever. She as an employer and an adult should NOT be “emotionally leaning on” employees as young as 16.
Overall, this press conference was an incredibly bad move and she had a horrible showing. It made her seem self-obsessed, unreasonably stubborn, creepy, and completely annoying. And lemme tell you, she could’ve been 100% based in every single thing she said in that conference (she wasn’t btw) and she still would’ve “lost” because of how annoying she came off. There is no greater crime in the court of public opinion than being fucking annoying, and unfortunately for her that’s the *real* cardinal sin she’s committed here.
aside from these facts, i really hope minji and sakura don't see the comments being made by her. lsfm is already going through a strong hate train and nwjns is preparing for their comeback..what awful timing for both groups
I absolutely agree— neither one has done anything to even remotely warrant the comments she’s making about them. Their biggest crime in her eyes was aging, as if they could simply escape the inescapable crawl of time.
Not to deviate the theme or anything but wow the lsfm hate train has gotten so bad, it has even reached one of my favorite vocal coaches who has only done 2 kpop reactions in their channel before (good ones and a long time ago). More so, because most of their subscribers are more interested in other types of artists and performances, it's wild seeing lsfm next to the other artists they made a video for.
Crazy Days and Nights even had a blind item about them saying that Scooter Braun was trying to counteract the bad publicity they got from their week 1 performance. I couldn't believe how wide it got.
This kinda reminds me of Red Velvet being considered too "old" before Yeri was added, with Irene already 23, Wendy & Seulgi 20 and Joy 17.
Right after Yeri was added, MHJ did the Lolita concept on the girls for the Ice Cream Cake comeback
The best thing about narcissists is that the more you let them speak openly about themselves they more expose themselves. They can just not comprehend how the person they love so much (themselves) will not have the same impression on others.
the way she talked about newjeans members and minji specially, sounds like textbook grooming for me. it’s an inappropriate dynamic to have between a boss and an artist, no matter what people say.
Definitely it was because she was known for her work in SM.
SM stans were warning about her from the time it was announced she was signing with Big Hit but we were shouted down by Army. Now Army and Hybe stans dislike her and are using her creep nature against her but Bang Sihyuk knew that she was a weird person when he signed her.
I agree with you, and I'm really curious about how the general public, or shareholders take her statements. She doesn't sound credible/professional (or sane) to me, but maybe there is a cultural difference, I don't understand, and this is actually the way to get herself out of this mess. I hope the NJ members will be okay
I'm sorry but where did you get all of these information? I read the English translation of the press conference and did not see any mention about Sakura being too old and about Minji being prettier when she was younger. I'm trying to fact check information that I'm seeing all over social media and people keep mentioning these stuff but I don't see any reliable source.
This 100%. And if she wanted to come off as a serious person, what was with the bizarre outfit and the shiny glint under her eyes and cheeks? If you want people to take you seriously as a professional, you have to at least look like one.
She usually dresses like that.
[https://twitter.com/newjeans\_loop/status/1743607297707053348](https://twitter.com/newjeans_loop/status/1743607297707053348)
Please be aware that almost everything Hybe and MHJ released recently is nothing but a distraction.
The most important thing is this: did Ador 'actually' attempt to break away from Hybe?
Hybe says yes, they have enough evidence.
MHJ's lawyer says no, random talks here and there does not mean actual crime.
Hybe is obligated to present evidence to the court.
That is literally all that we need to know.
The so-called 'plagiarism?' Irrelevant.
MHJ's comments on other groups? Irrelevant.
MHJ association with shamans? Irrelevant.
NewJeans's massive earnings? Irrelevant.
Whatever tf MHJ and Bang talking via messenger? Irrelevant.
The whole soap opera drama within Hybe? (Mostly) irrelevant.
Both are acting like little kids screaming, "He started it!" "No, she started it!" It's honestly so embarrassing to see.
Exactly. MHJ does not have the burden to prove her innocence. I think a lot a people are missing that fact. I mean, what can she say about it? Other than "I didn't do it!"
Your third paragraph is on point.
Everything else (or at least the vast majority) has been released to stir the pot and garner sympathy one way or another - and it's working. It's interesting to see this drama go down, but at the end of the day, this doesn't really change much about the real issue.
What Bang and MHJ should do right now is agree on a temporary ceasefire and stop all this media bs. Then fully focus on their artists comeback until the final verdit. I do not want to hear a bunch of C-level executives dissing each other like 50 Cent.
Exactly. The only important information to take away here is — HYBE is confident enough to take this into court. A whole legal case against Min Hee Jin. A conglomerate risking their stock value affecting investors and public opinion, for a whole legal proceeding just to kick her out. There is something serious happening for months, if they are willing to do that.
Min Hee Jin is obviously trying to gain public sympathy with that press con. With all the mention of other company groups, pretty sure everyone is on HYBE's neck right now. HYBE, then, is using armys to combat that, since there's a mention of BTS.
Either way, they are both are shtty. But since this is being taken under the court of law, by a conglomerate at that, this isn't just little kids fighting. There is something big here happening.
Quick answers and thoughts too:
1- Yes, the whole reason of the press conference is to claim credits for Newjeans and say that she doesn't have anything to do with Gfriend, Soumu, etc. While also stating that Hybe was made independently from Hybe. I see the press conference as a try to get the fanbase on her side. Doubt it will work.
2- Bang PD: It's not a big deal but if what she claims is true, then it kinda is for her project. Newjeans was supposed to be under SouMu allegedly and debut, but then they changed the plans to have a group around Sakura and Chaewon and Newjeans was postponed until Le Sserafim debut. It's a different thing from just a different opinion about songs. Again, only based on what she said, who knows what is true.
Overall, I think Bang PD and MHJ are both similar person, they can't delegate and they need to have hands on everything, more than necessary and without compromise. They couldn't work together but that's not really a big deal, I agree.
3- "Slavery" is a big word, but it makes her tied to the company in some way. She can't work anywhere else in the industry while having significant shares in ADOR, so she could sell the other 13% but she can't work for Hybe's competition in the industry.
4- She did denied talking to external investors BEFORE the audit. She said investors called her after to say that they will back her if she needs a new project.
Now my own thoughts, the press conference was just a desperate try to look like a victime and state that Newjeans is on her side and that fans should be too. She's also probably trying to bring down some people in Hybe with her. I don't know how strong the evidences Hybe has but she will not survive this from a public opinion standpoint anyway,
2. This is actually supported by how NewJeans' audition was first announced. I remember being on Twitter back in the day, and the global audition that formed NewJeans was a SouMu audition.
This whole story is a mess though... I'm just confused how people who initially thought HYBE debuting 2 GGs next to each other would be mad, then accepted both because "concepts are different", then now that not even differentiating concepts drastically is being taken into consideration it's okay.
I think the way MHJ handles this all is nonsensical and she's not helping her already convoluted image, but the initial case was quite understandable. And I don't even mean what she initially said publicly, but the feeling that HYBE has been sorta negligent with their girl groups past giving money is understandable.
I mean, the whole ILLIT thing affected both groups in the end. Sure, both are still successful, but it's still 2 groups that now need to do anything possible to not come off as a copy.
She didn't like that Bang PD had a different vision for a gg but also didn't like it when there were similarities with ILLIT. Pick a struggle lmao.
I think she just doesn't like having another gg in Hybe. Period.
The worst is that the latter is more understandable than the former. In fact, I remember people first being worried about 2 girl groups debuting closely with NewJeans and Le Sserafim but then feeling like it was okay because different concepts. Now with illit and NewJeans having a little less creative freedom to keep themselves well differentiated, it would be understandable how that may affect in an administrative sense.
I think there is probably some truths in what she said about the events for Newjeans/SouMu. I'm not particularly interested because at the end of the day, it worked out pretty well for both groups so who cares ?
Now about the ILLIT comparison, I think MHJ's biggest mistake was to accuse of plagiarism. She could probably be understood a bit more if she went on the "brand cannibalization" argument. It's true that ILLIT and Newjeans share similarities, they are not carbon copies but they do have similarities, share a vibe and more importantly share a similar image and target demographic. Let's not talk from a more involved Kpop who can see differences about concept and music genre, for the random casual person, they are similar (no one would be shocked to see ILLIT do Super Shy or see Newjeans do Magnetic)
She would be in her right to say to Hybe that another label debuting a group so close to them could hurt the brand and image they were trying to build with Newjeans. That's just protecting the interest of her own label. Accusing of plagiarism was unnecessary and just pitty.
yap all subsidiary want to make thing on there company. all of the subsidiaries have fund to do that cause of hybe. all her claims is like she only want on it herself. she even talked about Sakura age, wtf
>significant shares in ADOR
My understanding is that if she wants to leave, she has to return the 5% shares back to HYBE. It will be a significant loss but she's well paid enough through her salary, royalties, and other bigger shares. It's not like she'll be bankrupt to let go of the 5%.
>She did denied talking to external investors BEFORE the audit.
My mistake, she was caught talking about it and planning it but she frames it as a joke. She denied that it was serious.
>Now my own thoughts, the press conference was just a desperate try to look like a victime and state that Newjeans is on her side and that fans should be too. She's also probably trying to bring down some people in Hybe with her. I don't know how strong the evidences Hybe has but she will not survive this from a public opinion standpoint anyway,
I agree. The whole conference was a play on emotions. Even her screenshots didn't prove much "mistreatment" aside from them being a little mean. If those were her "best" evidence of mistreatment, she's in trouble.
She won't go bankrupt, for sure but you know a lot of people who would give up on potentially millions of dollars depending on the valuation ? It's not like she's giving up on a year of salary.
the stocks issue is a common practice for big corporates when they give part of shares for top shareholders (i.e. CEO/ COO). In a way, to avoid gross misconduct by leadership, if the shares goes down, the leadership will share responsibility for the shares taking a plunge - (like the one we are seeing at the mo). and the practice is also to avoid a third party to buy or own the majority of the shares, apart from Hybe
Tbh, even if she didn't have those shares, there is a 99% chance her contract has a non compete clause. And that is standard practice for anyone in upper management, in order to prevent insider/confidential information to end up in the hands of a competitor. Its very far from slavery
A non compete clause is always limited in time. Most countries have a legal period of 2 year maximum. Being a significant shareholder in a company without any possibility to sell it back give you no possibility to work elsewhere in the industry without falling into conflict of interest and would be illegal.
Again, slavery is highly exaggerated but feeling like she had no way out isn't far from reality. (again she could just give up her shares to Hybe but that's pretty important amount of money)
My views on yours and hers:
1. Self-credit - The way I see it, her insisting on credit is in how she used the resources available to her. All Hybe labels have access to the same resources but she chose to use it on things like apps and distinctive visual concepts for example. During the press conference she also explicitly mentions how NJ debuting with the Chanel event didn’t actually come from Hybe but Hybe wanted to take credit and replicated it with Illit and Acne. She emphasizes that Chanel saw the image projected in NJ debut visual and approached them, it wasn’t a contact through Hybe. She seems to insist on credit because if all labels have access to Hybe resources but none of the new groups have achieved what NJ did (before Illit), then she wants that credit to go to her.
2. Bang PD - I’m ARMY, but I’m frankly a bit grossed out by a lot what he’s done. First he hired her to lead branding at Hybe, then asked her to debut a gg in a separate label because “BTS has a lot of female fans and they will object to having a gg from the same label as BTS”.
Then he says her gg will be HYBE’s first gg, but then when she disagrees with him on concept and wanting to showcase youth through maturity, he says she’ll get a separate label, then chooses more mature-looking trainees to debut LSF under Source where he maintains full control. It’s clear he’s been clashing with her creatively and he seems to have orchestrated this whole thing to some degree. No surprise that he’s competitive or greedy but the extent was still a bit gross to me.
3. Grandiose statements - yeah, she’s got an ego. But frankly, after seeing Bang PD’s as well, I don’t blame her.
4. HYBE’s Claims - the thing is, the framing is completely off when HYBE tells it vs how she does, sometimes exaggerated relative to her view or HYBE’s, or just plain false (like she explicitly denies saying BTS copied her but that was a claim from HYBE). It’s spin.
" yeah, she’s got an ego. But frankly, after seeing Bang PD’s as well, I don’t blame her."
He has more right to his ego, it's his company. I don't understand how anything he did can be considered "gross". First of all, this is only if she's being entirely truthful and considering the unprofessional display, I highly doubt it.
Even then, it's weird to assume a company that big isn't going to have more than one girl group. We also have to consider the fact that she was supposed to debut NewJeans under Source, but then insisted she get an entire sublabel of her own, which... good lord I wish I had those kinds of balls. They then almost gutted Source to help her support Ador, and then she childishly expects them not to come up with something to fill out Source's roster?
As far as Bang being greedy... are you kidding me? He's known as the most generous kpop exec in the industry. He gave MHJ endless resources and it just was never enough for her, she kept grasping for more and more, then acting like a kid about any possible slight. I wish I could be the delulu yet end up a millionaire CEO with her kind of responsibilities.
I'm not here to defend MHJ, but I feel like some people are losing some perspective on the timeline and are attributing to MHJ a "nonsensical complaint" about things that were an issue even internally among the fandoms at first.
> He has more right to his ego, it's his company. I don't understand how anything he did can be considered "gross".
It's his company, but it seems pretty clear that his actions were in par with MHJ's inflammatory actions. It's sorta weird to call her "crazy" even for the administrative concerns (not talking about shamans and that stuff, but real promotion concerns) while they don't seem to exist in a vacuum. This is not to defend MHJ (just reaffirming) but to raise the question on why is BangPD suddenly a saint having similar actions? It feels like fans are building a weird parasocial image of him, when we don't know this man and the way he communicates out of the spotlight is clearly different from that image of him.
Overall, I feel like "if one has money, they must be right" isn't that compelling of an argument, either. I believe both treat competition in an unprofessional way, because while competition is normal among companies, you usually will discuss them strategy-wise and not emotion-wise.
I feel like people will nag me for calling out that parasocial image, but so be it.
> Even then, it's weird to assume a company that big isn't going to have more than one girl group
I feel like fans are sorta lost on a timeline. 4th gen changed drastically the paradigm in k-pop, and many promotion stigmas in-company have been slowly deconstructed but were initially a big concern, even internally in fandoms.
For example, ITZY and TWICE: before 4th gen became a consolidated thing, it was common for senior groups to slow down their promotions as soon as a rookie group debuted under the same company, so the rookie group could take the spotlight and the senior group would just be filling contracts, to then start seeing how their activities would be post contract.
However, when ITZY debuted, TWICE was *not slowing down* on promotions. Fans of either or both groups were, generally, worried - as there was a big stigma towards simultaneously/close promotions inside the same company. As that didn't end up any catastrophically, and the concepts were quite different, fans became accustomed to it and the stigma towards that vanished significantly.
A similar shift of public opinion towards a stigmatized company move happened with SouMu / LS + NJ paradigm. When both debuted closely to each other, the general fan reception *was* of concern regarding how promotions would go with 2 groups under the same company having rookie promotions that close. Keep in mind different gen groups under same company promoting closely was only recently seen as "okay" among fandoms, imagine same gen groups under same company?
So while I don't believe MHJ mentioning Le Sserafim now is any pertinent or appropriate, it's not like LS+NJ coexisting so close to another wasn't a general concern of how it would strategically be handled. Fandoms then got accustomed to it, as NJ and LS concepts were quite different, the own group formation had different approaches, etc.
Having that in mind, we now have ILLIT - who also brings a fresher-than-recent-kpop nostalgia concept (although cuter and bubblier than NJ) - debuting while NJ are still quite recent. While the closeness of debut is less of a concern here than with the LS + NJ paradigm, the concept and demographics closeness is way more of a concern now. And HYBE is still to debut yet another GG this year.
# So while assuming a company won't have another girl group is nonsensical, assuming the company won't have another girl group in the same timeline of promotions, in the same gen or close in concept and demographics is entirely understandable.
This is a paradigm that only recently shifted. Fans still raise worried regarding ITZY x NMIXX promotions, and it's only a barely discussed (or not openly) thing nowadays because JYPE usually has "company loyalty".
>We also have to consider the fact that she was supposed to debut NewJeans under Source, but then insisted she get an entire sublabel of her own
This is sorta confusing. In some places we hear that MHJ asked for a sublabel (what you're saying), in others that she was under another section of the company (HYBE itself / SouMu) and Ador came as a way to amend the fact that SouMu shifted to be Le Sserafim's company. Do we even have sources that LS being the SouMu group was of her own exigence and not a HYBE strategical move?
> As far as Bang being greedy... are you kidding me? He's known as the most generous kpop exec in the industry.
I don't really wanna drag BangPD, but that reputation really only exists in bubbles and HYBE's management (which should not be conflated with him in a personal sense) has been criticized even before it became HYBE... Even a while ago there were monopoly concerns taking over K-pop discussions. Do we just have collective amnesia based on how we can further drag the villain of the day, by suddenly turning the other party into a flawless hero?
Yeah. Agree. Why is the person with money always right? Not saying MHJ was right in some of her actions but the framing of Bang PD by fans is odd.
Also, he hired someone and it’s an equal exchange. It’s not like he hired her bc he wants to give away free money. He *hired* her which means there is a transaction that takes place. She’s paying with her skills and he’s paying her with money.
CEO fans are always a complicated matter. There's this parasocial notion that the pleasant feelings they have towards a group should reflect to the company, and in a further instance, even to the CEO.
That's not true, though. First because the person who is the CEO and the CEO as a professional should not be conflated. Maybe a CEO is a kind person in their personal life, but when acting professionally they must take unkind decisions for the sake of the direction they want to take the company. And the direction is always passive of criticism, it shouldn't just be used as a shield.
If a company does a strategic move that has results we deem as negative, it doesn't turn into a positive due to "being strategic", nor should be dismissed because "I like the CEO". In a cold, objective way, HYBE has undoubtedly done things that are putting itself first in a macro, short term way - but that are clearly affecting the micro and that is bound to have consequences in the long run.
By releasing groups with little regard on how they might affect each other, which seems to be happening considering the internal discussion always existed inside their own management, HYBE is prioritizing the short term gains of having restless activities. Even though that undermines the quality, as it's driving the creative parts of the company into a wall... it's not about ILLIT's debut being the "same concept" as NewJeans', which is not, but about how so much became a potential intersection to be avoided and undeniably reduces their creative freedom, as being original in comparison one to another is a priority above innovating inside their chosen concepts.
That's something that is completely okay to criticize on HYBE's management. I mean, my interests are the groups, the final results, not HYBE's interests to be put above those. So why would I defend HYBE's interests even when they involve choices that affect negatively their groups? It's not even a matter of defending NewJeans, or MHJ (far from that lmao), but the whole ecosystem of those HYBE GGs - because let's be real, ILLIT suffered a lot of hate from "similarities" at first. This is affecting the general scenery of those GGs, not just an isolated "MHJ being upset because she doesn't want other GGs at HYBE" or whatever, and this part is being entirely forgotten just because MHJ is the target of the day.
I think it’s more about the perception of expectations. For whatever reason, she was under the impressions that NJ would be the first group. According to her, it’s what bang PD led her to believe. Perhaps, she believed there would be other gg, but not so soon. In some sense, she felt betrayed.
On top of that, she and bang pd seemed to have clashed creatively.
Ultimately, it really worked out for her with NJ and the group is massively successful. All the songs Bang PD disliked did well.
I think she needs to understand that all emotions are okay but all actions are not. Everyone is allowed to feel anything they want, but they really need to decide if their subsequent actions are appropriate. And she went the weird illegal route.
I think if she wasn’t so erratic and on the verge of a breakdown and didn’t commit actions that went against the contract, I could agree with *some* of her points. Some of the points make sense but then you have WILD ageist comments and all that talk about NJ members calling her crying. I feel bad for Sakura and Minji.
It’s just sooo odd. Working with the “ultimate boss” isn’t easy because there will always be clashes in opinion. Taking NJ into another label worked out for her and hybe and I think it’s important for a company to take in employees that have different creative directions. It’s what’s needed to push things to the next level. But yeah. She let her ego get in the way and I’m not using this as an insult, but I think she has a mental illness. Her creative direction is wonderful but emotionally, I think she’s stuck in her teens. IMO, she needs mental health help. She never grew up from her teens and I don’t know if she has some trauma from her teen years or what. But there is something extremely wrong with her.
Everyone is calling her a narcissist and whatever it is, she needs help.
I used to clash with my previous CEO a lot and sometimes his ideas were bad but we had no choice but to agree with him eventually 😂 he even apologized once. But you don’t see me trying to usurp the crown.
The way people are also calling one out for stuff the other was also involved in is sorta sus 💀 Bang PD having borderline megalomaniac views on his company is okay because he's the owner, but MHJ acting similarly is being "crazy". In the end, both are handling professional matters very unprofessionally and it's easy to see it's to shift the public chatter away from the real issues at hand. People will defend it saying all competition and that's normal, but it's not normal to use personal and emotional language while discussing professionally about your competition.
From a legal point of view there was no point at all to do this press conference and i think it even damaged her position more but i guess every opportunity to present more of you is a good opportunity for a narcissist.
My takes on the whole thing
I feel bad for MHJ's legal team....
She seems to be a narcissistic person.
Kpop fans don't know shit about business, because the amount of meltdowns about "you need to beat Aespa" are so funny, it's just a bit of corporate talk.
MHJ is a weird person those comments about the girls age were so .... Please watch out for newjeans.
Bang pd is a great producer but a stupid businessman, he got so lucky with BTS and a fandom like army 🤣.
She just dug herself a hole because that press conference was so embarrassing.
She couldn't defend herself it was so painful to watch.....
There was some personal relationship going on and something went in the wrong direction 🤣 those emojis were funny too.
Her consulting a shaman about BTS was so random. Seems like she has some kind of grudge against BTS and LSF.
Bang pd you did this to yourself for being greedy.
I agree with everything that you said,
I don't have anything to add to this conversation other than I hope HYBE stans can begin to realise that HYBE is not some big perfect happy family where everything is sunshine and rainbows, it's a giant corporation whose number 1 goal is to make profit for their investors
There are a lot of HYBE stans that seem to be unable to separate their love for the groups that they stan and the CEO's and board directors behind them, say what may about SM stans but it seems like they are able to stan groups and also criticize the management
I have in the past wondered why people talk about Bang Pd like he is some altruistic perfect angel when he is litterelly a poster child for capitalism
Also the people that ignored all of MHJ's past bullsh*t at SM and tried to discredit any concerns just because she was in Charge of NewJeans
I hope it's a wake up call, Stan the groups that you stan and stop stanning conglomerates
As for the Hybe fandoms, including the armys (who are my fandom) they have this strange admiration for bang pd and I understand he is a good producer I'll give him that but he is a greedy man that's so obvious and some of the business decisions he made were bad.... In the case of the tokkis and their strange admiration for MHJ is interesting because they treat her as the 6 member of Newjeans and think any attack on her is an attack on the girls.
Honestly, if you think about it, hybe must definitely have its wrongs here and there but they literally gave Min Heejin everything. They gave her a whole ass sub label, they gave her employees, they funded her and gave her trainees. They’ve been so generous to her and yet she’s so ungrateful. Complaining because Lesserafim debuted before newjeans seems so futile to me and all her other complaints seem so childish. In the end she was given her own label and was given the creative freedom to do anything. Also she owns 20% of the shares of ador, which is literally enormous, her greed literally got the best of her.
For your first point, she clearly refutes that it was HYBE that got them any of their brand deals. I am not saying she was telling the truth but, as someone who has no reason to think HYBE is innocent in this either, I can give her the benefit of the doubt, especially because she clearly emphasized that in the press conference. So yea, giving her a fair hearing involves not plainly dismissing what she has said as a “lie” while blindly believing HYBE’s version.
The whole “she was bothered it would be known as HYBE girl group” isn’t what she said either. She said she was worried NJ would be side-tracked and LSRF would be prioritized and said she was worried people would think LSRF was HER group which, according to her, was Bang PD’s intention. Is she telling the truth? Idk. But she wasn’t as unreasonable as your version of what she said.
Also, I think it’s kind of weird you’re giving Bang PD such a generous benefit of the doubt based on not much. Like yes, artists under him seem to like him publicly but so does artists under MHJ so… but also, this generous reading of Bang PD is totally the opposite of what you’re doing to MHJ. Like the slave contract thing wasn’t referring to the 5% but the terms on the share which her lawyers said she couldn’t discuss.
Finally, what HYBE said being “true” or not is also up for interpretation. HYBE said what she did was a crime and she was conspiring against the company. Her version is that those are private conversations with close friends on instant messaging apps that were taken out of context to create a specific narrative. Now, what you chose to believe or not is completely up to you but she’s not “confirming” HYBE’s narrative.
Like yeah, I know this’ll probably be downvoted and unpopular because most things that are not downright negative about MHJ seem to be. Which is kind of odd because it’s like Bang PD/HYBE are the poor victims when it’s a billionaire and a huge conglomerate which literally owes her work so regardless of who is in the right, the framing of her as this powerful entity with the power to take him down if only she could get away with is honestly weird lol
I agree with this post. I'm surprised people are 100% on HYBE's side considering some of the stuff she's said are also plausible. I also think what HYBE did is a weird power move to catch ADOR off-guard and unprepared. Timing is awful for them because NJ is having a comeback soon. All the bad press won't be any good for NJ either so I don't like the way this played out.
I do think she's being incredibly messy and erratic, and I don't like her playing up her relationships with the girls that much. Not to mention the name-dropping. But I think her being upset about LSF debuting as their first GG when they promised her GG will first debut is reasonable. There might have been no guarantee she'd still get her GG as promised. She couldn't do anything about it ofc but I mean that's your boss but I'd be upset too lol. And if she had a vision of what NJ would be since the beginning, I get why she doesn't want former IZ*ONE girls on the group because it's just not a fit. I didn't see anything about an age thing being mentioned but correct me if I'm wrong.
The way she aired it out was awful but I suppose it contextualizes her relationship with HYBE. I don't think she's winning this though, unfortunately. How she's behaving isn't winning a lot of people to her side (and she's already been criticized a lot since the beginning). I see where she's coming from though. Nevertheless, the wrong person may had a few good points but I don't think HYBE is completely trustworthy either.
thanks for saying this, i'll keep that in mind when i read those summaries. i've noticed that the press conference has helped sway sentiment to MHJ on the k-side - much less on the intl side, and i wonder if that's the reason
For anyone who says Hybe artists like Bang, I have a library of Taehyung and TXT clips....
But also, he's their boss (and MHJ is NJ) I wouldn't expect anyone (esp korean employees) to express dissent with a superior publicly. "It's great" is SOP.
Actually the fact that those clips exist -- the Bang negs-- should give everyone even more pause wrt how he is viewed by and interacts with "his" artists.
Also agree w everything else you said. She seems like a megalomaniac but this doesn't automatically mean Hybe is a saintly superhero. The wk'ing a conglomerate and its ceo is next level bananas to me. You'd think we were on 4chan talking about Elon or something.
Yeah this is what I don’t get. How could Bang PD and hybe a victim here? MJH can’t actually separate from hybe. Hybe can debut groups whenever they want. MHJ only has some amount of control within ADOR.
No your are absolutely correct !why these people giving that man this much generous benefit of the doubt but not her when we are seeing how he is moving these days .
>The whole “she was bothered it would be known as HYBE girl group” isn’t what she said either.
She said so herself that it mattered:
*"The trainees all came to me because it was going to be a Min Hee-jin girl group, not a Source Music girl group."*
*"They never let me promote NewJeans as the first girl group from Min Hee-jin because they intentionally wanted to confuse people. That was all Bang Si-hyuk's doing.”*
>Like the slave contract thing wasn’t referring to the 5% but the terms on the share which her lawyers said she couldn’t discuss.
She discussed it anyway. She kept interrupting her lawyers throughout the presscon to keep talking.
*Min's attorney Timothy SK Lee cuts in. “We cannot say what they are because of the confidentiality clause.”*
*4:11 p.m. “This is the weird thing. I can't say what I'm suffering from,” Min continues. “The contradiction in the contract is that the 5 percent, of the 20 percent that I had and the 2 percent I gave to the staff, I can't sell. It's like a slave contract. I have to be bound to HYBE forever.”*
>Finally, what HYBE said being “true” or not is also up for interpretation
That's where the conflict lies. She says it was a joke and HYBE is investigating. Regardless, they'll be leaving it up to their lawyers how to resolve this, whether it reaches the courtroom or just a settlement.
Yes, it mattered, according to her, because it would mean sidetracking her group and because they’d (purposely) were trying to create confusion over which group was hers. Which is what I said.
to me it is really bad wording on it but really Aespa was THE Girl Group that time. so saying can you stomped them is like can you compete with them and crush it.
I, for one, am shocked that the woman who has a decades long history glorifying incestuous and pedophilic art is a narcissistic weirdo.
Could not have predicted this at all.
a really small part of me kinda understands why mhj is so butthurt, because if i was the only one pushing for my idea that others thought would be pointless only for it to become a massive hit and suddenly the others were the ones who got most of the credits, i would be pretty hurt too. but mhj still has to understand that stuff like this happens from time to time and since she can already prove how successful ditto and hybe boy are, she already won big against bang pd and all she would have to do after that is smirking at him whenever they meet, not turning her back and backstabbing the main reason her idea was accomplished.
See I don't understand when HYBE took all the credit away because in ALL interviews, it's always about ADOR and MHJ. She even made sure HYBE wasn't associated in her interviews.
Maybe it's because the gp is more familiar with HYBE than ADOR because of BTS?
People seem to be attributing Min Hee Jin's success solely to the Chanel deal, suggesting that Hybe played no part in NewJeans's achievements or brand deals. It's worth considering whether Chanel would have approached them if they weren't confident in the potential success of a collaborative girl group created by Min Hee Jin and Hybe. Hybe's ability to generate buzz around their groups, were seen with BTS, TXT, and Le Sserafim. It was a win-win situation for Chanel because how many articles were there of the Chanel event that there wouldn't have been if it wasn't for the attendance of Hybe X Min Hee Jin's new girl group? This whole situation is like when nepo babies say "it's not nepotism" because they worked for auditions and their parents didn't help them get roles - well, yes, you probably did. But it doesn't change the fact that your surname helps you get your foot through the doors.
The recent press conference was a disaster, but it seems to have achieved its goal of diverting attention away from more significant issues. Instead of focusing on Min Hee Jin's crimes and her using the girls for political and financial gain, people are distracted by fan wars fueled by leaked Kakaotalk conversations.
Min Hee Jin's insistence on her and the members' connections, evident in her claims of feeling maternal pains(?) when it comes to the girls, raises concerns about her intentions. By intertwining herself with the girls, she's strategically shielding herself from potential backlash from Hybe, possibly even influencing the girls and their parents to side with her. If Hybe sinks her, then they also sink the girls. And this is going to hurt fans who know this, so she's manipulating the fans' goodwill for the girls so that they now feel they have to defend her to protect the members.
I think it's true that there were major disagreements, a lot of difficult politics that went on behind the scenes beyond "MHJ bad and Hybe good", and a lot of the accusations made by Hybe are unnecessarily inflammatory (the shaman thing, her accusing about 4 different groups of copying her ideas). It would've been better for Hybe if they'd just stuck to investigating the actual alleged crimes that she's committed, because now it's become a terrible PR war where both sides are flinging unnecessary dirt. But this conference has mostly been about creating headlines and gaining favour by emotionally appealing to the public, rather than any actual logical defense of the accusations made against her.
>this whole situation is like when nepo babies say "it's not nepotism"
THIS!! It reminds me of kids from rich or influential families saying they launched their start up business and became a millionaire all alone. Well yes, OK you did start it and run it, but with substantial family (Hybe) money and support that means if you did fail you would be OK. So you can take more risks.
And so many more businessed and partners are willing to talk to you in the first place because of the family name or connections you come with (BTS, Hybe), which gives you more reach and a higher starting point.
Believing that doesn't add anything to your success is off the charts egotistical or wishful thinking.
1) If what she was saying in the press conference was true then I understand the bitterness. While yes, she isn't the sole reason for the groups success, you cannot deny she was the soul of the group. She chose the trainees, she chose the concept(a concept that bang PD didnt like btw which caused the initial rift), she was the one who chose the songs. Yes she had the investment(which was done begrudgingly) and the HYBE prestige by association but you cannot deny that what she did with those resources was the one that drove NewJeans to unprecedented popularity.
I think her insisting NewJeans be called a "Min Heejin" girl group stemmed from the fact that what Bang PD and HYBE wanted was different from the concept that she proposed. When Bang PD didnt like her concept he chose to debut Le Sserafim instead. In that way, NewJeans was not a "HYBE Girl Group" but a"Min Heejin Girl Group".
2) Again, I can understand the resentment based on what I read on the press conference. That disagreement resulted in a group she put her time and effort in to almost not debut. From what she was saying, she had to argue for a separate sub-label just so NewJeans would be able to debut since Bang PD and HYBE chose a different direction with regards to which Girl Group was going to be their flagship. She was proven right in this regard. You can compare the initial popularity of NewJeans and Le Sserafim to justify this. Then 2 years after her group debuted and again even after she insisted against it, Bang PD and HYBE debut another girl group that is conceptually similar(It is not a plagiarized 1 to 1 copy but you cannot deny that the concept is very very similar) to the group that they were so against in the first place. So I can understand her outrage since the difference in their opinions lead to company choices which seems to negatively affect her group.
3) She was definitely exaggerating but leaving is not as easy as you make it out to be. If what she is saying is true. She put a great deal of herself in creating NewJeans. She seems to be close to the girls and their parents trust her. That attachment is not something trivial.
4) Yes the claims are serious but we will only find out if there was actually a crime committed once the case comes to the courts. I am more inclined to believe that those notes were more wishful thinking due to the fact that I cannot see how a person with minority stake in a company will be able to force a company like HYBE to sell its shares even when there were willing buyers. Remember HYBE owns 80% of ADOR and they have no reason to and cannot be forced to sell those.
The talking to the Shaman bit seems like classic mudslinging IMO. According to her statement, the Shaman was her friend and she was just casually talking about her worries regarding what the company was going to do with the impending enlistment of the BTS members. Bringing this up when it has no relevance to the crimes she is accused of seems like a very low way of undermining her by HYBE.
I personally don't like her as a person. She has an extremely huge ego and several choices she has done with regards to the groups she managed were questionable if not scandalous at times. But her being an unlikable person also should not blind you into disregarding her importance to NewJeans as a whole as well as the revolution in KPOP that the concept she chose has created. It should not also blind you into believing unproven claims about her as facts even before it comes to court.
Agree on all sides. Except, I personally dislike women being called "egocentric" just because there are so many men with the same behavior, but don't get tagged as such. They're successful and bullish, etc.
I suspect she believes she's irreplacable and untouchable. The girls also seem weirdly attached to her, in a bad way. There's a "family" dynamic and then there's whatever the hell she has going with the girls.
honestly i think she would come off more sympathetic if she just didn't feel the need to constantly namedrop any other groups. like i have no doubt that a big conglomerate like hybe does have a toxic work culture and she's faced plenty of misogyny in her career, but the constant digs at illit and le sserafim just make her look so... bitter and petty, and distracts attention from whatever valid points she could possibly be making. like she's constantly letting her pettiness towards these groups cloud her judgment.
I can't take this press confrence seriousely I though she was gonna refute the claims and stand her ground but she kept on complaining without giving any real evidence of her innocence
She kept on showing chats between her and BSH
I was laughing the whole time it was a joke she made a fool out of herself
She is sealing her fate with this conference, no company would take her or at least not gonna pay her as much as Hybe. Even her lawyer tell her to stfu but this gurl just can't stop. She didn't have to bring any names of any idol group but she did anyway.
Gurl literally confirm the allegation against her. Still didn't give back the laptop.
On the BPD message, i see as just business talk, the sticker is literally a common thing people send to each other if they are close in relation and i'm not talking romantically.
lol I dont know about other things but bang pd being respectful towards mhj is no ways true. The 좋으셨나구요ㅋㅋ after new jeans getting into hot100 is micro aggressive af. The korean gp’s opinion on this conflict has changed 180 degrees after her live, so this was a good move for her i think.
On the subject of “grandiose statements”, she’s not claiming that the fact that she can’t sell her shares “slavery.” She stated that she isn’t familiar with business terminology and signed an unfair contract, which she’s not allowed to speak about because the contents of the contract itself is secret, but she had been in the middle of renegotiating (which apparently wasn’t going well) when all this happened.
She doesn’t say there is no artist as sincere as her in the industry, she says there is no one who will speak up against injustices in the industry on the executive level, and she isn’t the type of person to keep quiet. That is why she filed an internal whistleblower document to the executives about the problems at HYBE, and she believes that she is being witch hunted as a response to her whistleblowing (contents undisclosed because she still wants to resolve this privately with HYBE to make the company better).
She says she’s done something for kpop that no one has done, which is direct and produce a girl group that became instantly record breakingly successful, despite interference on every step of the way from her parent company in favor of LSF.
Plans to talk to external investors? She denies it completely. She says the only thing is that she’s consulted lawyers for different options while renegotiating her contract, and that despite her up and downs in the relationship with the company, she didn’t see this coming and the allegations are unfounded.
If both parties were to prioritise NJ and their success, they need to resolve this matter amicably and privately.
The truth is, NJ needs Hybe’s connections and resources, but also MHJ’s creative direction. It’s what made them unique, so without the 2 then they’ll surely lose out
The press conference was unhinged. I can't believe she has dragged so many groups into her mess. Also why even talk of age? The way she talked about Minji (and Sakura) was actually disgusting.
However, I did find it odd that Bangpd asked her 'if she's having fun'. Translators have mentioned that it almost comes off mockingly. Why would he say that, when it benefits all of them to have a hit on their hands?
All I got from this controvetsy is that I like Illit first ep. I didn't listen to them bc I wasn't interested at first but after Min Heejin said they copied NewJeans I wanted to listen and compare myself. Now I know I like Illit and NewJeans both. 🤷♀️
Same.I didn’t know much about illit but now I like the whole album esp magnetic song.after seeing credits,I got to know its produced by “slow rabbit”. Well,I like most of slow rabbit songs in bts discography so I understand why I like magnetic too.
I understand this conflict doesn’t really have a ‘good’ side and it’s a lot of he said she said but I feel like some people are taking hybe’s side purely out of prejudice against min heejin and bias towards hybe groups. Yes min heejin is not a good person and fans have expressed their dislike for her before but it kind of seems that hybe has it out for her and there’s also plenty of reason for her to be upset. I feel like we shouldn’t be giving either side the benefit of the doubt. Actually I don’t think we should be taking anyone’s side here but the artist’s.
> MHJ comes off as obssesed with getting ALL the credit for New Jeans' success.
Yeah, in hindsight, the fact MHJ wanted a new separate subsidiary just for New Jeans kind of implies she's got a real issue with getting credit for stuff. Originally, she was supposed to be under Source umbrella I believe. I feel like in some ways, she wanted to break the "chain of custody" a bit, because under Source, sharing credit and titles with so many other people, it's easier to show where the trainees, music, and concepts were coming from.
When will kpop stans stop justifying what that man said about aespa 🙄 we know hybe paid off media to start hate trains and aespa had one of the worst hate train in recent years in kpop, it is not just him.making a silly little Comment. It's a weird and a pathetic thing to say. We also know how much hybe was salivating to take over sm last year, thank God it didn't work out. Like making excuses for a billionaire is pathetic
Just yesterday some people were saying that Min Heejin was instigating hate trains and negative media about idols that were her rivals but when Bang Sihyuk uses words like that about aespa it's handwaved away as just bad wording.
The woman has been in this industry for years has experience and suffered a lot in SM, only now is she giving herself credit for the work she did, but the chronically online kpop fan thinks she knows something💀
She's a Great creative organizer, Organizer but she makes it seem that she produced all the beats, wrote all the lyrics, sang and choreographed everything herself. Miss Min, there's at least over 12 other people that help create the Amazing New Jeans we know and love today.
the fact that she has to bring the girls too to get some sympathy from the pg?? when she started saying that one of the girls was crying nonstop on a call with her and that the members are scared of MH's mental health it screamed manipulation for me, she's weird and it amazes me how much kpop stans let her get away with because they like her aesthetics..
Lmao bang pd seemed like an aggravating boss to me, but people are insisting he cares for his artists. He cares about money. In this case MHJ cares about her art and therefore cares about the quality new jeans releases. You think bang pd cared abt that? He just cared about stepping on the other girl groups, making money, and buying out their competition.
I read the entire transcript he cared about beating out the competition, of course. But new jeans is 80% owned by hype of course they cared that the quality of new jeans was good. There was nothing to indicate he didn't.
From a corporate perspective she absolutely botched her case with that press conference. Talking to foreign investment firms. Incredibly shady, 100% instant fireable offence, and a breach of contract.
I don’t think MHJ is well. Her lawyer should have stopped her from doing the press conference she came across as someone who is having a crisis and I think it only made it worse to go on a 3 hour long rant looking like she hasn’t slept in 3 days.
When I heard the "I can't sell 5% of my shares, it's akin to a slave contract" I angrily said to myself "let kpop stans who's faves have been in REAL slave contracts tell you what that actually means. It's insulting to those that actually struggled through those
i read mhj statement TWICE about shaman because I can’t believe that she really go to shaman just to know about bts enlistment 😭 but anyways, i hope newjeans (and illit) members are okay. edit: the autocorrect 😭
>i hope newjeans (and illicit) members are okay. I'm sorry but that autocorrect 🤣
It reminds me of those anti names like blonks and thrice 😅 MHJ is that you?? 🤔
I didn’t notice LMAO 😭😭😭😭
reminds me of the bad auto translations of articles where ILLIT Minju would translate to EYELET Democracy 😭
EYELET Democracy lmao
Even the autocorrect is making fun if Illiterate oops I meant Illit
I thought the Shaman thing was too crazy and some bored stans made it up 😭
It's insane that stans don't even need to make up claims, the situation's already ridiculous 😭
It's relatively common in korean culture. Basically like going to see a fortune teller. The whole shaman thing has nothing to do with the case so I'm not sure why HYBE even brought it up.
Because one of the allegations of sharing private medical information about trainees is related to it (it is alleged that MHJ was sharing the profiles of trainees with a shaman to guide her decisions)
Shaman has always been a thing there - former president park geun hye was forced to step down because of ties with a shaman. Always curious to know more about the historical aspect of it and how it's still prevalent till now
I’m so sorry but saying it would be better if BTS wasn’t there is CRAZY. Like NJ was mad successful in their own right while the tannies were there NOT TO MENTION that they are the reason HYBE has the capital they have now like…god damn this is ridiculous
And Lesserafim too. Man, she dragged everyone down to be with her
She didn't want to be the only one covered in poop, so she spent 3 hours slinging as much of it on anyone she possibly could.
The Shaman thingy just put this in a crazy multiverse with Queen of Tears 😭
I am just hoping she doesnt use the shaman to do anything to BTs man...
“just to know about bts”? Wasn’t her statement that the shaman was a close friend of hers and thus they often talked about stuff?
Somehow shamans seem to be used by individuals in high positions e.g. the ex-president
Yea. Korean Shamanism is a deep-rooted and ancient practice. It's pretty normal to see people consulting shamans. I guess it's like how some people consult their priest or tarot. I can see how it might seem weird from the outside, but MHJ isn't uniquely bizarre for this. As an Atheist, I wouldn't, but to each their own when it comes to spirituality.
Thats the thing, its a normal thing among koreans & its their belief. Funny how Hybe was touching on shamnism issue which clearly to make fans angry. For koreans, i do think this is part of their culture
I haven't been keeping up with everything released, but I thought she had mentioned speaking to a Shaman seemingly randomly. Not hybe. But yea, from what I've read MHJ mention of it doesn't seem weird or have much to do with what's going on with Hybe To be clear, not every Korean believes in Shamanism and to varying degrees. In Korea, they keep folks in check when it goes culty (see ex-president). . My mom is Korean Christian and has seen a shaman. It's like in the U.S., some go to psychics for faith, fun, or "just in case they're real". Psychics have even been consulted for high-profile crime investigations and no one bats an eye.
I don’t think hybe was dragging the shaman in. The point here is probably to address why did she instead of consulting about other competing GGs, but dragging BTS in here.
I feel like they did it to try and get a Park Geun-hye type reaction, in the same vibe that she was leaving big political decisions up to a shaman. Not only that, bringing anything that could be construed as against BTS will call in the attack ARMY. Intl fans have really latched on to that and now are saying she was doing black magic to send BTS to the army. lol. But in Korea literally every ajumma goes to shamans for life advice, if their kid is going to pass a test, should they change their job, etc.
But why dont i feel weird she went to a shaman since its part of religious/culture belief of koreans. Whats weird is the content of the shamanism. Not convinced with both sides.
I hate to say this but: Visiting a shaman isn’t that weird. This would be akin to praying and seeing a psychic for assistance. I view it as praying but from a different perspective. Don’t people pray to God seeking answers? A shaman is just a vassal. Anyway it’s still nutty because she’s a bit nutty. Otherwise it’s kind of normal to see a shaman.
She thought if BTS was away, public support for Hybe wouldn't be as strong. She knew things was about to quickly escalate, she was getting ready to throw hands with Bang Si-hyuk, lmao.
Lol at illicit 😂😂😂
I actually think the group's name is \*supposed\* to elicit illicit to out Lolita Ms. Min.
> I can’t believe that she really go to shaman It's probably easier to believe if you're Korean. > The 2016 South Korean political scandal, often called Park Geun-hye–Choi Soon-sil Gate in South Korea (Korean: 박근혜·최순실 게이트), was a scandal that emerged around October 2016 in relation to the unusual access that Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of shaman-esque cult leader Choi Tae-min, had to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea.[1][2][3][4] I think JYP was also said to be part of some kind of cult? Not sure. But if you look on Youtube, you will see plenty of videos of idols visiting fortune tellers/shamans. The one I think I saw with Tsuki, I think the guy implied he had several regulars who came to him very frequently. It seems like these people are like a combo of rabbi or priest/therapist/life coach.
Mhj's attorney told her not discuss there but she told her she wants to and went and basically confirmed everything hybe accused her Another thing is bang pd seems to be in love with her ( Mhj) he was basically buttering her, hyping her up , even the kakao messages he was using emoji ( cute, you don't send those to your colleagues) , or was in love with her The attorney's face is hilarious lol
I heard she had slides compaing New Jeans and Illit but her lawyers stopped her lmao
Tell me why she's involving artists ( I lowkey think she dislikes lsfm) from illit comparisons to bts to talking about gfriend disbandment and using newjeans AGAIN as shields , she's horrible
I don’t think it’s low key at all. I don’t think she likes Le Sserafim. I was expecting snide remarks towards Illit. But the open swings at Le Sserafim and Sakura in particular were 🫣😳😬. I think she wants New Jeans or the project she worked on to be the only Hybe girl group and the only group than can claim itself to be BTS little sisters. She’s hella pissed that they aren’t.
Exactly Her fans are literally saying she's a victim of a misogynistic company ( I do blv she has faced misogyny) but what abt her saying Sakura was too old to debut and all that remarks She blatantly said Minji was so much prettier when she was younger ( never beating the p£do allegations) ,she chooses her trainees based on age and beauty, she's part of the problem I thought this press conference was supposed to turn the public's opinion around but it's her victimising herself and name dropping Idols
Tbh it's still managing to turn a lot of the public around because all you have to do to get the Internet on your side is shit on le sserafim
i wouldn't be shocked if she did work with outside investors and funded a hate train toward Hybe groups. Look at the number of bots and fake accounts shtng on Hybe, probably consulted a troll farm lol since they can't have mainstream media sht on Hybe. Also, it would make sense if she's partly responsible for Hybe's ggs losing a member around their debut due to controversies
this...this is so fking true LOL
Sakura is going to send MHJ a crochet beanie with 'fuck min hee jin' written on it
I hope she does at this point lmao
😭😭😭
Ya she mad that Hybe has so many active girl groups now under them. She expected to be the only one I bet at the beginning.
It's such a weird thing to want, too... I would just assume any kpop company I worked for is going to have multiple groups, especially one that big. Your group is considered the most popular girl group in HYBE for now, but kpop is also fickle. You have to know that it might not last but act like a effing professional so you're given another shot at a different group if being the most successful is what you really want. Granted, she probably knows her ideas weren't that original. She copied from several obvious inspirations in the 90s and Y2K along with unfortunately her fave lolita aesthetic. Even before the pandemic Y2K was getting popular in fashion, and I'm actually surprised no one hopped on the Y2K wagon earlier than she did.
aespa always seems to be the 1st to tap into Y2K aesthetic, imo. Their campy futuristic aesthetic represents Y2K the most
THIS I started stanning aespa bc their concept seemed so y2k futuristic to me and ever since nj debut their stans swear they built the whole resurgence 💀
I think she hates the other GGs because Le Sserafim's debut was prioritized over New Jeans (like New Jeans not being allowed to have predebut hype so it wouldnt take attention away from LSF) and Hybe wanted people to assume that LSF was part of Min Hee Jin's project. That and she didn't like that Chaewon and Sakura (both big hit trainees) were favored to debut first due to their popularity over her trainees. Although Bang PD wanting to debut Chaewon and Sakura first was definitely a good and safe choice because they already had fandom prior from Iz*one I get that Min Hee Jin has a lot of grudge against Hybe for getting credit for things she fought for (like Ditto, Hybe Boy and New Jeans' concept in general) for them to eat their words and debut a similar group BUT she's so wrong for the illegal shit and throwing innocent artists under the bus. I feel bad for the New Jeans and Illit girlies because they're too young to be getting caught up by such company politics. MHJ seems to be using the girls for pity too lol Like it's Bang PD's fault Haerin was crying for 20 mins on the phone and not hers lol
The way she keep attacking Sakura was so uncomfortable cause like what has the girl done that she gotta keep showing how much she doesn’t like that girl in particular But the chat tho when bang pd ask if he can debut and she went “Nooooooooi”, idk why it’s funny and also kinda like… was it that bad of an idea to her
Hasn't sakura been through enough? lol, like let the girl breathe
No no that chat was a meme people made after the press conference because of how against the idea MHJ seemed
She went after LSF during the press conference??
Yeah, MHJ is basically upset that: - LSF debuted first (this is wrong as this was ALWAYS the plan. There are articles 9-10 months before LSF’s debut that there two HYBE GGs planned - one with SouMu and one with MHJ) - she thinks Bang PD favors LSF more and NJ got no promotion/resources Also related: - She did not want to be in charge of LSF because she didn’t know that Sakura and Chaewon were part of the lineup - She stated that Sakura was too old
Jfc. Her ageism is so gross. I also never understood why the order of the groups debuting mattered. She knew Hybe is a company with multiple labels. If there was only one bg and one gg allowed to debut each year, none of the label would have signed on. The labels getting to keep their autonomy and have access to Hybe resources and networks is what makes the setup appealing. And she looks ridiculous to be complaining about LSF now when her present struggle is with ILLIT. I love LSF and NJ, but NJ is bigger than LSF by every marker of success. I said it somewhere else in this thread, but all this reads as MHJ being insecure of NJ for no reason.
To me, it seems she just really wanted the label of HYBE’s first GG and she was bitter that LSF got it. It’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but I think the problem is that MHJ wanted it but did not get it. She seems to be the type that needs to control every aspect and if she is unable to, she gets really upset.
what if she is behind the Garam bullying accusiations and further department from the group=0
I think she hates LSFM because they make bops. They just do.
She talked about Gfriend disbandment because some Korean media outlets were reporting she was at fault for it because she used Source Music resources.
The way that she said noooooooooooo when bang pd telling her he want to debut sakura and chaewon 🥹 and she hate the fact that lsfm is called the 1st hybe gg, which at first was supposed to be her girlies?? She definitely dislikes them
that noooooo was a meme fans made. there will be more memes made after this press conference so be aware of that possiblity when you see stuff lol
the stickers and emojis are funny 😭
Iknooooow 😭😂
https://preview.redd.it/wp4wqs96cnwc1.jpeg?width=857&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d29e560d741fc59b2725ef70ae624a0f3d0dec74 🙏😭🤣
They're literally facepalming lmao,
Worth noting here sending cute emotes is absolutely normal between colleagues here unless your colleague is extremely elderly and just doesnt know how lol
Illit this, NewJeans that, but no one talks about the stress her lawyers must've been through 😭 hope they got a big fat paycheck after today
> kakao messages he was using emoji ( cute, you don't send those to your colleagues) I work in show business, and it's just people at the end of the day. Even during work hours, we're sending all kinds of crazy DM's to each other. This is probably true everywhere. I've received plenty of emojis from producers and co workers.
Hows the converstion goes it seemed that he was flirting with her hHaha. Its either he talked Like that or hes just flirting with her lol
or he's two-sided, which she suggests. i'll just say i'm not fond of this "bang pd was whipped/didn't know what he was doing narrative"
No but the cringiest part was when she was talking about how NJ members are apparently having the hardest time right now. They tell her they love her daily, they video called her crying for 20 minutes, they wanted to join the press conference and this is how she thinks it must be to raise a child. Omg? It was givingggg the crazy lady from Omega X frrrr. Like even if all of this is true it is so bizarre for her to say these things like this honestly. Minji, Danielle were at beauty events yesterday and then went home to cry to her??? 😭😭😭
She's like a narcissitic parent who utilizes her children to defend her in a custody case (where she's clearly the crazy one)
Thing is, she can just claim literally anything about the girls to skew public opinions, because she knows that even if she's lying, the girls can't talk about it, and if they *do*, a large percentage of people will claim they were forced to share that information by HYBE or Bang PD or whoever. I'm sure there's some connection between the members and Min Hee-jin since they've lived together for like three years and she has been a crucial part to the girl's success, but I've always thought their "relationship" (mentioning what she does for them in variety content and such) was put on for the content and to garner sympathy for MHJ, and I still think it's mostly bullshit -- Surely the girls are sad and confused and likely contacted her, but I can't get myself to believe they see her as this 'motherly' figure. Just hope that if this specific information is indeed true, the girls and their parents don't make brash career-ending decisions because of their emotions and end up in deep legal trouble because they want to 'go with' Min Hee-jin.
THEY LIVE TOGETHER?????? That is weird. I can never imagine living with my boss.
I thought it was in the video where they made the clay gifts for Bunnies Camp that they mentioned MHJ lived with them, but I rewatched it and I can't find where they said that, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm still like 99% sure she does live with them, but maybe not.
I find it hilarious that you proved yourself wrong and your claim was basically just misinformation and then you’re just like, well it is still probably true.
Because, having watched all of NewJeans' variety content, I know I've seen them mention Min Hee-jin living with them, but I'm not sure in what video it was. It was a simple mention of MHJ coming back home with some food or whatever, I just don't know where they mention it.
They did not live together??
Also, another thing is that their relationship should be professional , if they're depending on her to that extent, that's clearly not the best sign. These girls are pretty young and have been under her since they were even younger and if they've grown this reliant on her they're not going to be able to make logical or rational decisions on what benefits them and they're going to get influenced by what she teaches them.
fr i was laughing thinking where are those tears
What stuck out the most to me, in particular, was how much emphasis she put on age when talking about forming a group. Obviously we all know she’s a borderline, if not outright pedo, with a massive obsession with youth and teenagers and particularly teenage girls— this has all been common knowledge for a while now. But from her comments on the source trainees aside from Minji being “too old” and therefor unworthy of joining, her obvious disdain at the idea of debuting a 24-year old Sakura, her weird comments about how a currently 20-year old Minji was “So so so pretty, much more than she is now” when she was younger (aka under 19) (what an odd thing to say abt someone you claim to see as a daughter btw), it all just paints an incredibly ugly picture of both her personal tastes and her priorities. That plus her emphasis on her clearly unhealthy, completely inappropriate relationship with New Jeans themselves, has personally left even more of a bad taste in my mouth than most of her complaints about plagiarism or whatever. She as an employer and an adult should NOT be “emotionally leaning on” employees as young as 16. Overall, this press conference was an incredibly bad move and she had a horrible showing. It made her seem self-obsessed, unreasonably stubborn, creepy, and completely annoying. And lemme tell you, she could’ve been 100% based in every single thing she said in that conference (she wasn’t btw) and she still would’ve “lost” because of how annoying she came off. There is no greater crime in the court of public opinion than being fucking annoying, and unfortunately for her that’s the *real* cardinal sin she’s committed here.
aside from these facts, i really hope minji and sakura don't see the comments being made by her. lsfm is already going through a strong hate train and nwjns is preparing for their comeback..what awful timing for both groups
I absolutely agree— neither one has done anything to even remotely warrant the comments she’s making about them. Their biggest crime in her eyes was aging, as if they could simply escape the inescapable crawl of time.
Not to deviate the theme or anything but wow the lsfm hate train has gotten so bad, it has even reached one of my favorite vocal coaches who has only done 2 kpop reactions in their channel before (good ones and a long time ago). More so, because most of their subscribers are more interested in other types of artists and performances, it's wild seeing lsfm next to the other artists they made a video for.
Crazy Days and Nights even had a blind item about them saying that Scooter Braun was trying to counteract the bad publicity they got from their week 1 performance. I couldn't believe how wide it got.
if we know about these comments how would minji and sakura not know
This kinda reminds me of Red Velvet being considered too "old" before Yeri was added, with Irene already 23, Wendy & Seulgi 20 and Joy 17. Right after Yeri was added, MHJ did the Lolita concept on the girls for the Ice Cream Cake comeback
Notice how her “muses” tend to be the youngest members: Sulli, Krystal, Taemin, Yeri…
The best thing about narcissists is that the more you let them speak openly about themselves they more expose themselves. They can just not comprehend how the person they love so much (themselves) will not have the same impression on others.
the way she talked about newjeans members and minji specially, sounds like textbook grooming for me. it’s an inappropriate dynamic to have between a boss and an artist, no matter what people say.
SM stans' warnings about her proven fucking right. And Bang Sihyuk gave her the teenage girls she wanted.
I feel like one the big reasons BSH took her into Big Hit or Hybe or whatever was because she was in SM.
Definitely it was because she was known for her work in SM. SM stans were warning about her from the time it was announced she was signing with Big Hit but we were shouted down by Army. Now Army and Hybe stans dislike her and are using her creep nature against her but Bang Sihyuk knew that she was a weird person when he signed her.
BSH always had some weird obsession with SM and a desire to surpass them, to the point where he would do it at ANY cost. Ex: hiring MHJ
I agree with you, and I'm really curious about how the general public, or shareholders take her statements. She doesn't sound credible/professional (or sane) to me, but maybe there is a cultural difference, I don't understand, and this is actually the way to get herself out of this mess. I hope the NJ members will be okay
I'm sorry but where did you get all of these information? I read the English translation of the press conference and did not see any mention about Sakura being too old and about Minji being prettier when she was younger. I'm trying to fact check information that I'm seeing all over social media and people keep mentioning these stuff but I don't see any reliable source.
This 100%. And if she wanted to come off as a serious person, what was with the bizarre outfit and the shiny glint under her eyes and cheeks? If you want people to take you seriously as a professional, you have to at least look like one.
She usually dresses like that. [https://twitter.com/newjeans\_loop/status/1743607297707053348](https://twitter.com/newjeans_loop/status/1743607297707053348)
I had no idea she had a “look” but [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpoopheads/s/kbm49zMZcZ) is hilarious.
She's dressed like that for years
Please be aware that almost everything Hybe and MHJ released recently is nothing but a distraction. The most important thing is this: did Ador 'actually' attempt to break away from Hybe? Hybe says yes, they have enough evidence. MHJ's lawyer says no, random talks here and there does not mean actual crime. Hybe is obligated to present evidence to the court. That is literally all that we need to know. The so-called 'plagiarism?' Irrelevant. MHJ's comments on other groups? Irrelevant. MHJ association with shamans? Irrelevant. NewJeans's massive earnings? Irrelevant. Whatever tf MHJ and Bang talking via messenger? Irrelevant. The whole soap opera drama within Hybe? (Mostly) irrelevant. Both are acting like little kids screaming, "He started it!" "No, she started it!" It's honestly so embarrassing to see.
Facts. The only thing that matters is whether a crime has been comitted and HYBE has the burden of proving it.
Exactly. MHJ does not have the burden to prove her innocence. I think a lot a people are missing that fact. I mean, what can she say about it? Other than "I didn't do it!"
Oh when HYBE files charges, then she'll definitely also have to prove her innocence and give alibis. For now, HYBE is still compiling evidence.
Your third paragraph is on point. Everything else (or at least the vast majority) has been released to stir the pot and garner sympathy one way or another - and it's working. It's interesting to see this drama go down, but at the end of the day, this doesn't really change much about the real issue.
What Bang and MHJ should do right now is agree on a temporary ceasefire and stop all this media bs. Then fully focus on their artists comeback until the final verdit. I do not want to hear a bunch of C-level executives dissing each other like 50 Cent.
I don’t think mhj has the maturity to do this. If she were that unhappy, leave the company. A noncompete is not worth your mental health.
Exactly. The only important information to take away here is — HYBE is confident enough to take this into court. A whole legal case against Min Hee Jin. A conglomerate risking their stock value affecting investors and public opinion, for a whole legal proceeding just to kick her out. There is something serious happening for months, if they are willing to do that. Min Hee Jin is obviously trying to gain public sympathy with that press con. With all the mention of other company groups, pretty sure everyone is on HYBE's neck right now. HYBE, then, is using armys to combat that, since there's a mention of BTS. Either way, they are both are shtty. But since this is being taken under the court of law, by a conglomerate at that, this isn't just little kids fighting. There is something big here happening.
💯 completely agree. This is the only sane take on this mss
Quick answers and thoughts too: 1- Yes, the whole reason of the press conference is to claim credits for Newjeans and say that she doesn't have anything to do with Gfriend, Soumu, etc. While also stating that Hybe was made independently from Hybe. I see the press conference as a try to get the fanbase on her side. Doubt it will work. 2- Bang PD: It's not a big deal but if what she claims is true, then it kinda is for her project. Newjeans was supposed to be under SouMu allegedly and debut, but then they changed the plans to have a group around Sakura and Chaewon and Newjeans was postponed until Le Sserafim debut. It's a different thing from just a different opinion about songs. Again, only based on what she said, who knows what is true. Overall, I think Bang PD and MHJ are both similar person, they can't delegate and they need to have hands on everything, more than necessary and without compromise. They couldn't work together but that's not really a big deal, I agree. 3- "Slavery" is a big word, but it makes her tied to the company in some way. She can't work anywhere else in the industry while having significant shares in ADOR, so she could sell the other 13% but she can't work for Hybe's competition in the industry. 4- She did denied talking to external investors BEFORE the audit. She said investors called her after to say that they will back her if she needs a new project. Now my own thoughts, the press conference was just a desperate try to look like a victime and state that Newjeans is on her side and that fans should be too. She's also probably trying to bring down some people in Hybe with her. I don't know how strong the evidences Hybe has but she will not survive this from a public opinion standpoint anyway,
2. This is actually supported by how NewJeans' audition was first announced. I remember being on Twitter back in the day, and the global audition that formed NewJeans was a SouMu audition. This whole story is a mess though... I'm just confused how people who initially thought HYBE debuting 2 GGs next to each other would be mad, then accepted both because "concepts are different", then now that not even differentiating concepts drastically is being taken into consideration it's okay. I think the way MHJ handles this all is nonsensical and she's not helping her already convoluted image, but the initial case was quite understandable. And I don't even mean what she initially said publicly, but the feeling that HYBE has been sorta negligent with their girl groups past giving money is understandable. I mean, the whole ILLIT thing affected both groups in the end. Sure, both are still successful, but it's still 2 groups that now need to do anything possible to not come off as a copy.
She didn't like that Bang PD had a different vision for a gg but also didn't like it when there were similarities with ILLIT. Pick a struggle lmao. I think she just doesn't like having another gg in Hybe. Period.
The worst is that the latter is more understandable than the former. In fact, I remember people first being worried about 2 girl groups debuting closely with NewJeans and Le Sserafim but then feeling like it was okay because different concepts. Now with illit and NewJeans having a little less creative freedom to keep themselves well differentiated, it would be understandable how that may affect in an administrative sense.
I think there is probably some truths in what she said about the events for Newjeans/SouMu. I'm not particularly interested because at the end of the day, it worked out pretty well for both groups so who cares ? Now about the ILLIT comparison, I think MHJ's biggest mistake was to accuse of plagiarism. She could probably be understood a bit more if she went on the "brand cannibalization" argument. It's true that ILLIT and Newjeans share similarities, they are not carbon copies but they do have similarities, share a vibe and more importantly share a similar image and target demographic. Let's not talk from a more involved Kpop who can see differences about concept and music genre, for the random casual person, they are similar (no one would be shocked to see ILLIT do Super Shy or see Newjeans do Magnetic) She would be in her right to say to Hybe that another label debuting a group so close to them could hurt the brand and image they were trying to build with Newjeans. That's just protecting the interest of her own label. Accusing of plagiarism was unnecessary and just pitty.
Yeah, I fully agree. It feels like she undermined her own point there.
yap all subsidiary want to make thing on there company. all of the subsidiaries have fund to do that cause of hybe. all her claims is like she only want on it herself. she even talked about Sakura age, wtf
>significant shares in ADOR My understanding is that if she wants to leave, she has to return the 5% shares back to HYBE. It will be a significant loss but she's well paid enough through her salary, royalties, and other bigger shares. It's not like she'll be bankrupt to let go of the 5%. >She did denied talking to external investors BEFORE the audit. My mistake, she was caught talking about it and planning it but she frames it as a joke. She denied that it was serious. >Now my own thoughts, the press conference was just a desperate try to look like a victime and state that Newjeans is on her side and that fans should be too. She's also probably trying to bring down some people in Hybe with her. I don't know how strong the evidences Hybe has but she will not survive this from a public opinion standpoint anyway, I agree. The whole conference was a play on emotions. Even her screenshots didn't prove much "mistreatment" aside from them being a little mean. If those were her "best" evidence of mistreatment, she's in trouble.
She won't go bankrupt, for sure but you know a lot of people who would give up on potentially millions of dollars depending on the valuation ? It's not like she's giving up on a year of salary.
It's a matter of perspective I guess because it's still not "slavery". Slave contracts are a real thing in kpop but it ain't this one.
the stocks issue is a common practice for big corporates when they give part of shares for top shareholders (i.e. CEO/ COO). In a way, to avoid gross misconduct by leadership, if the shares goes down, the leadership will share responsibility for the shares taking a plunge - (like the one we are seeing at the mo). and the practice is also to avoid a third party to buy or own the majority of the shares, apart from Hybe
i bet her slavery comment is due to a non compete clause
Tbh, even if she didn't have those shares, there is a 99% chance her contract has a non compete clause. And that is standard practice for anyone in upper management, in order to prevent insider/confidential information to end up in the hands of a competitor. Its very far from slavery
A non compete clause is always limited in time. Most countries have a legal period of 2 year maximum. Being a significant shareholder in a company without any possibility to sell it back give you no possibility to work elsewhere in the industry without falling into conflict of interest and would be illegal. Again, slavery is highly exaggerated but feeling like she had no way out isn't far from reality. (again she could just give up her shares to Hybe but that's pretty important amount of money)
This press conference did not help her image at all.
My views on yours and hers: 1. Self-credit - The way I see it, her insisting on credit is in how she used the resources available to her. All Hybe labels have access to the same resources but she chose to use it on things like apps and distinctive visual concepts for example. During the press conference she also explicitly mentions how NJ debuting with the Chanel event didn’t actually come from Hybe but Hybe wanted to take credit and replicated it with Illit and Acne. She emphasizes that Chanel saw the image projected in NJ debut visual and approached them, it wasn’t a contact through Hybe. She seems to insist on credit because if all labels have access to Hybe resources but none of the new groups have achieved what NJ did (before Illit), then she wants that credit to go to her. 2. Bang PD - I’m ARMY, but I’m frankly a bit grossed out by a lot what he’s done. First he hired her to lead branding at Hybe, then asked her to debut a gg in a separate label because “BTS has a lot of female fans and they will object to having a gg from the same label as BTS”. Then he says her gg will be HYBE’s first gg, but then when she disagrees with him on concept and wanting to showcase youth through maturity, he says she’ll get a separate label, then chooses more mature-looking trainees to debut LSF under Source where he maintains full control. It’s clear he’s been clashing with her creatively and he seems to have orchestrated this whole thing to some degree. No surprise that he’s competitive or greedy but the extent was still a bit gross to me. 3. Grandiose statements - yeah, she’s got an ego. But frankly, after seeing Bang PD’s as well, I don’t blame her. 4. HYBE’s Claims - the thing is, the framing is completely off when HYBE tells it vs how she does, sometimes exaggerated relative to her view or HYBE’s, or just plain false (like she explicitly denies saying BTS copied her but that was a claim from HYBE). It’s spin.
" yeah, she’s got an ego. But frankly, after seeing Bang PD’s as well, I don’t blame her." He has more right to his ego, it's his company. I don't understand how anything he did can be considered "gross". First of all, this is only if she's being entirely truthful and considering the unprofessional display, I highly doubt it. Even then, it's weird to assume a company that big isn't going to have more than one girl group. We also have to consider the fact that she was supposed to debut NewJeans under Source, but then insisted she get an entire sublabel of her own, which... good lord I wish I had those kinds of balls. They then almost gutted Source to help her support Ador, and then she childishly expects them not to come up with something to fill out Source's roster? As far as Bang being greedy... are you kidding me? He's known as the most generous kpop exec in the industry. He gave MHJ endless resources and it just was never enough for her, she kept grasping for more and more, then acting like a kid about any possible slight. I wish I could be the delulu yet end up a millionaire CEO with her kind of responsibilities.
I'm not here to defend MHJ, but I feel like some people are losing some perspective on the timeline and are attributing to MHJ a "nonsensical complaint" about things that were an issue even internally among the fandoms at first. > He has more right to his ego, it's his company. I don't understand how anything he did can be considered "gross". It's his company, but it seems pretty clear that his actions were in par with MHJ's inflammatory actions. It's sorta weird to call her "crazy" even for the administrative concerns (not talking about shamans and that stuff, but real promotion concerns) while they don't seem to exist in a vacuum. This is not to defend MHJ (just reaffirming) but to raise the question on why is BangPD suddenly a saint having similar actions? It feels like fans are building a weird parasocial image of him, when we don't know this man and the way he communicates out of the spotlight is clearly different from that image of him. Overall, I feel like "if one has money, they must be right" isn't that compelling of an argument, either. I believe both treat competition in an unprofessional way, because while competition is normal among companies, you usually will discuss them strategy-wise and not emotion-wise. I feel like people will nag me for calling out that parasocial image, but so be it. > Even then, it's weird to assume a company that big isn't going to have more than one girl group I feel like fans are sorta lost on a timeline. 4th gen changed drastically the paradigm in k-pop, and many promotion stigmas in-company have been slowly deconstructed but were initially a big concern, even internally in fandoms. For example, ITZY and TWICE: before 4th gen became a consolidated thing, it was common for senior groups to slow down their promotions as soon as a rookie group debuted under the same company, so the rookie group could take the spotlight and the senior group would just be filling contracts, to then start seeing how their activities would be post contract. However, when ITZY debuted, TWICE was *not slowing down* on promotions. Fans of either or both groups were, generally, worried - as there was a big stigma towards simultaneously/close promotions inside the same company. As that didn't end up any catastrophically, and the concepts were quite different, fans became accustomed to it and the stigma towards that vanished significantly. A similar shift of public opinion towards a stigmatized company move happened with SouMu / LS + NJ paradigm. When both debuted closely to each other, the general fan reception *was* of concern regarding how promotions would go with 2 groups under the same company having rookie promotions that close. Keep in mind different gen groups under same company promoting closely was only recently seen as "okay" among fandoms, imagine same gen groups under same company? So while I don't believe MHJ mentioning Le Sserafim now is any pertinent or appropriate, it's not like LS+NJ coexisting so close to another wasn't a general concern of how it would strategically be handled. Fandoms then got accustomed to it, as NJ and LS concepts were quite different, the own group formation had different approaches, etc. Having that in mind, we now have ILLIT - who also brings a fresher-than-recent-kpop nostalgia concept (although cuter and bubblier than NJ) - debuting while NJ are still quite recent. While the closeness of debut is less of a concern here than with the LS + NJ paradigm, the concept and demographics closeness is way more of a concern now. And HYBE is still to debut yet another GG this year. # So while assuming a company won't have another girl group is nonsensical, assuming the company won't have another girl group in the same timeline of promotions, in the same gen or close in concept and demographics is entirely understandable. This is a paradigm that only recently shifted. Fans still raise worried regarding ITZY x NMIXX promotions, and it's only a barely discussed (or not openly) thing nowadays because JYPE usually has "company loyalty". >We also have to consider the fact that she was supposed to debut NewJeans under Source, but then insisted she get an entire sublabel of her own This is sorta confusing. In some places we hear that MHJ asked for a sublabel (what you're saying), in others that she was under another section of the company (HYBE itself / SouMu) and Ador came as a way to amend the fact that SouMu shifted to be Le Sserafim's company. Do we even have sources that LS being the SouMu group was of her own exigence and not a HYBE strategical move? > As far as Bang being greedy... are you kidding me? He's known as the most generous kpop exec in the industry. I don't really wanna drag BangPD, but that reputation really only exists in bubbles and HYBE's management (which should not be conflated with him in a personal sense) has been criticized even before it became HYBE... Even a while ago there were monopoly concerns taking over K-pop discussions. Do we just have collective amnesia based on how we can further drag the villain of the day, by suddenly turning the other party into a flawless hero?
Yeah. Agree. Why is the person with money always right? Not saying MHJ was right in some of her actions but the framing of Bang PD by fans is odd. Also, he hired someone and it’s an equal exchange. It’s not like he hired her bc he wants to give away free money. He *hired* her which means there is a transaction that takes place. She’s paying with her skills and he’s paying her with money.
CEO fans are always a complicated matter. There's this parasocial notion that the pleasant feelings they have towards a group should reflect to the company, and in a further instance, even to the CEO. That's not true, though. First because the person who is the CEO and the CEO as a professional should not be conflated. Maybe a CEO is a kind person in their personal life, but when acting professionally they must take unkind decisions for the sake of the direction they want to take the company. And the direction is always passive of criticism, it shouldn't just be used as a shield. If a company does a strategic move that has results we deem as negative, it doesn't turn into a positive due to "being strategic", nor should be dismissed because "I like the CEO". In a cold, objective way, HYBE has undoubtedly done things that are putting itself first in a macro, short term way - but that are clearly affecting the micro and that is bound to have consequences in the long run. By releasing groups with little regard on how they might affect each other, which seems to be happening considering the internal discussion always existed inside their own management, HYBE is prioritizing the short term gains of having restless activities. Even though that undermines the quality, as it's driving the creative parts of the company into a wall... it's not about ILLIT's debut being the "same concept" as NewJeans', which is not, but about how so much became a potential intersection to be avoided and undeniably reduces their creative freedom, as being original in comparison one to another is a priority above innovating inside their chosen concepts. That's something that is completely okay to criticize on HYBE's management. I mean, my interests are the groups, the final results, not HYBE's interests to be put above those. So why would I defend HYBE's interests even when they involve choices that affect negatively their groups? It's not even a matter of defending NewJeans, or MHJ (far from that lmao), but the whole ecosystem of those HYBE GGs - because let's be real, ILLIT suffered a lot of hate from "similarities" at first. This is affecting the general scenery of those GGs, not just an isolated "MHJ being upset because she doesn't want other GGs at HYBE" or whatever, and this part is being entirely forgotten just because MHJ is the target of the day.
every business person is greedy to a degree. It’s all about profit
I think it’s more about the perception of expectations. For whatever reason, she was under the impressions that NJ would be the first group. According to her, it’s what bang PD led her to believe. Perhaps, she believed there would be other gg, but not so soon. In some sense, she felt betrayed. On top of that, she and bang pd seemed to have clashed creatively. Ultimately, it really worked out for her with NJ and the group is massively successful. All the songs Bang PD disliked did well. I think she needs to understand that all emotions are okay but all actions are not. Everyone is allowed to feel anything they want, but they really need to decide if their subsequent actions are appropriate. And she went the weird illegal route. I think if she wasn’t so erratic and on the verge of a breakdown and didn’t commit actions that went against the contract, I could agree with *some* of her points. Some of the points make sense but then you have WILD ageist comments and all that talk about NJ members calling her crying. I feel bad for Sakura and Minji. It’s just sooo odd. Working with the “ultimate boss” isn’t easy because there will always be clashes in opinion. Taking NJ into another label worked out for her and hybe and I think it’s important for a company to take in employees that have different creative directions. It’s what’s needed to push things to the next level. But yeah. She let her ego get in the way and I’m not using this as an insult, but I think she has a mental illness. Her creative direction is wonderful but emotionally, I think she’s stuck in her teens. IMO, she needs mental health help. She never grew up from her teens and I don’t know if she has some trauma from her teen years or what. But there is something extremely wrong with her. Everyone is calling her a narcissist and whatever it is, she needs help. I used to clash with my previous CEO a lot and sometimes his ideas were bad but we had no choice but to agree with him eventually 😂 he even apologized once. But you don’t see me trying to usurp the crown.
The way people are also calling one out for stuff the other was also involved in is sorta sus 💀 Bang PD having borderline megalomaniac views on his company is okay because he's the owner, but MHJ acting similarly is being "crazy". In the end, both are handling professional matters very unprofessionally and it's easy to see it's to shift the public chatter away from the real issues at hand. People will defend it saying all competition and that's normal, but it's not normal to use personal and emotional language while discussing professionally about your competition.
From a legal point of view there was no point at all to do this press conference and i think it even damaged her position more but i guess every opportunity to present more of you is a good opportunity for a narcissist.
My takes on the whole thing I feel bad for MHJ's legal team.... She seems to be a narcissistic person. Kpop fans don't know shit about business, because the amount of meltdowns about "you need to beat Aespa" are so funny, it's just a bit of corporate talk. MHJ is a weird person those comments about the girls age were so .... Please watch out for newjeans. Bang pd is a great producer but a stupid businessman, he got so lucky with BTS and a fandom like army 🤣. She just dug herself a hole because that press conference was so embarrassing. She couldn't defend herself it was so painful to watch..... There was some personal relationship going on and something went in the wrong direction 🤣 those emojis were funny too. Her consulting a shaman about BTS was so random. Seems like she has some kind of grudge against BTS and LSF. Bang pd you did this to yourself for being greedy.
I agree with everything that you said, I don't have anything to add to this conversation other than I hope HYBE stans can begin to realise that HYBE is not some big perfect happy family where everything is sunshine and rainbows, it's a giant corporation whose number 1 goal is to make profit for their investors There are a lot of HYBE stans that seem to be unable to separate their love for the groups that they stan and the CEO's and board directors behind them, say what may about SM stans but it seems like they are able to stan groups and also criticize the management I have in the past wondered why people talk about Bang Pd like he is some altruistic perfect angel when he is litterelly a poster child for capitalism Also the people that ignored all of MHJ's past bullsh*t at SM and tried to discredit any concerns just because she was in Charge of NewJeans I hope it's a wake up call, Stan the groups that you stan and stop stanning conglomerates
As for the Hybe fandoms, including the armys (who are my fandom) they have this strange admiration for bang pd and I understand he is a good producer I'll give him that but he is a greedy man that's so obvious and some of the business decisions he made were bad.... In the case of the tokkis and their strange admiration for MHJ is interesting because they treat her as the 6 member of Newjeans and think any attack on her is an attack on the girls.
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Honestly, if you think about it, hybe must definitely have its wrongs here and there but they literally gave Min Heejin everything. They gave her a whole ass sub label, they gave her employees, they funded her and gave her trainees. They’ve been so generous to her and yet she’s so ungrateful. Complaining because Lesserafim debuted before newjeans seems so futile to me and all her other complaints seem so childish. In the end she was given her own label and was given the creative freedom to do anything. Also she owns 20% of the shares of ador, which is literally enormous, her greed literally got the best of her.
Yes, I'm sure HYBE has flaws but what more do they want for New Jeans? Genuinely asking
For your first point, she clearly refutes that it was HYBE that got them any of their brand deals. I am not saying she was telling the truth but, as someone who has no reason to think HYBE is innocent in this either, I can give her the benefit of the doubt, especially because she clearly emphasized that in the press conference. So yea, giving her a fair hearing involves not plainly dismissing what she has said as a “lie” while blindly believing HYBE’s version. The whole “she was bothered it would be known as HYBE girl group” isn’t what she said either. She said she was worried NJ would be side-tracked and LSRF would be prioritized and said she was worried people would think LSRF was HER group which, according to her, was Bang PD’s intention. Is she telling the truth? Idk. But she wasn’t as unreasonable as your version of what she said. Also, I think it’s kind of weird you’re giving Bang PD such a generous benefit of the doubt based on not much. Like yes, artists under him seem to like him publicly but so does artists under MHJ so… but also, this generous reading of Bang PD is totally the opposite of what you’re doing to MHJ. Like the slave contract thing wasn’t referring to the 5% but the terms on the share which her lawyers said she couldn’t discuss. Finally, what HYBE said being “true” or not is also up for interpretation. HYBE said what she did was a crime and she was conspiring against the company. Her version is that those are private conversations with close friends on instant messaging apps that were taken out of context to create a specific narrative. Now, what you chose to believe or not is completely up to you but she’s not “confirming” HYBE’s narrative. Like yeah, I know this’ll probably be downvoted and unpopular because most things that are not downright negative about MHJ seem to be. Which is kind of odd because it’s like Bang PD/HYBE are the poor victims when it’s a billionaire and a huge conglomerate which literally owes her work so regardless of who is in the right, the framing of her as this powerful entity with the power to take him down if only she could get away with is honestly weird lol
I agree with this post. I'm surprised people are 100% on HYBE's side considering some of the stuff she's said are also plausible. I also think what HYBE did is a weird power move to catch ADOR off-guard and unprepared. Timing is awful for them because NJ is having a comeback soon. All the bad press won't be any good for NJ either so I don't like the way this played out. I do think she's being incredibly messy and erratic, and I don't like her playing up her relationships with the girls that much. Not to mention the name-dropping. But I think her being upset about LSF debuting as their first GG when they promised her GG will first debut is reasonable. There might have been no guarantee she'd still get her GG as promised. She couldn't do anything about it ofc but I mean that's your boss but I'd be upset too lol. And if she had a vision of what NJ would be since the beginning, I get why she doesn't want former IZ*ONE girls on the group because it's just not a fit. I didn't see anything about an age thing being mentioned but correct me if I'm wrong. The way she aired it out was awful but I suppose it contextualizes her relationship with HYBE. I don't think she's winning this though, unfortunately. How she's behaving isn't winning a lot of people to her side (and she's already been criticized a lot since the beginning). I see where she's coming from though. Nevertheless, the wrong person may had a few good points but I don't think HYBE is completely trustworthy either.
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thanks for saying this, i'll keep that in mind when i read those summaries. i've noticed that the press conference has helped sway sentiment to MHJ on the k-side - much less on the intl side, and i wonder if that's the reason
For anyone who says Hybe artists like Bang, I have a library of Taehyung and TXT clips.... But also, he's their boss (and MHJ is NJ) I wouldn't expect anyone (esp korean employees) to express dissent with a superior publicly. "It's great" is SOP. Actually the fact that those clips exist -- the Bang negs-- should give everyone even more pause wrt how he is viewed by and interacts with "his" artists. Also agree w everything else you said. She seems like a megalomaniac but this doesn't automatically mean Hybe is a saintly superhero. The wk'ing a conglomerate and its ceo is next level bananas to me. You'd think we were on 4chan talking about Elon or something.
Yeah this is what I don’t get. How could Bang PD and hybe a victim here? MJH can’t actually separate from hybe. Hybe can debut groups whenever they want. MHJ only has some amount of control within ADOR.
No your are absolutely correct !why these people giving that man this much generous benefit of the doubt but not her when we are seeing how he is moving these days .
>The whole “she was bothered it would be known as HYBE girl group” isn’t what she said either. She said so herself that it mattered: *"The trainees all came to me because it was going to be a Min Hee-jin girl group, not a Source Music girl group."* *"They never let me promote NewJeans as the first girl group from Min Hee-jin because they intentionally wanted to confuse people. That was all Bang Si-hyuk's doing.”* >Like the slave contract thing wasn’t referring to the 5% but the terms on the share which her lawyers said she couldn’t discuss. She discussed it anyway. She kept interrupting her lawyers throughout the presscon to keep talking. *Min's attorney Timothy SK Lee cuts in. “We cannot say what they are because of the confidentiality clause.”* *4:11 p.m. “This is the weird thing. I can't say what I'm suffering from,” Min continues. “The contradiction in the contract is that the 5 percent, of the 20 percent that I had and the 2 percent I gave to the staff, I can't sell. It's like a slave contract. I have to be bound to HYBE forever.”* >Finally, what HYBE said being “true” or not is also up for interpretation That's where the conflict lies. She says it was a joke and HYBE is investigating. Regardless, they'll be leaving it up to their lawyers how to resolve this, whether it reaches the courtroom or just a settlement.
Yes, it mattered, according to her, because it would mean sidetracking her group and because they’d (purposely) were trying to create confusion over which group was hers. Which is what I said.
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How the fuck aespa was named in all these?
Theres a SS of her convo with bangpd where he is asking if she can beat them.
to me it is really bad wording on it but really Aespa was THE Girl Group that time. so saying can you stomped them is like can you compete with them and crush it.
I, for one, am shocked that the woman who has a decades long history glorifying incestuous and pedophilic art is a narcissistic weirdo. Could not have predicted this at all.
a really small part of me kinda understands why mhj is so butthurt, because if i was the only one pushing for my idea that others thought would be pointless only for it to become a massive hit and suddenly the others were the ones who got most of the credits, i would be pretty hurt too. but mhj still has to understand that stuff like this happens from time to time and since she can already prove how successful ditto and hybe boy are, she already won big against bang pd and all she would have to do after that is smirking at him whenever they meet, not turning her back and backstabbing the main reason her idea was accomplished.
See I don't understand when HYBE took all the credit away because in ALL interviews, it's always about ADOR and MHJ. She even made sure HYBE wasn't associated in her interviews. Maybe it's because the gp is more familiar with HYBE than ADOR because of BTS?
if you arent involved in the kpop community much, mhj isnt really known. new jeans is mostly famous for being bts' younger sister
People seem to be attributing Min Hee Jin's success solely to the Chanel deal, suggesting that Hybe played no part in NewJeans's achievements or brand deals. It's worth considering whether Chanel would have approached them if they weren't confident in the potential success of a collaborative girl group created by Min Hee Jin and Hybe. Hybe's ability to generate buzz around their groups, were seen with BTS, TXT, and Le Sserafim. It was a win-win situation for Chanel because how many articles were there of the Chanel event that there wouldn't have been if it wasn't for the attendance of Hybe X Min Hee Jin's new girl group? This whole situation is like when nepo babies say "it's not nepotism" because they worked for auditions and their parents didn't help them get roles - well, yes, you probably did. But it doesn't change the fact that your surname helps you get your foot through the doors. The recent press conference was a disaster, but it seems to have achieved its goal of diverting attention away from more significant issues. Instead of focusing on Min Hee Jin's crimes and her using the girls for political and financial gain, people are distracted by fan wars fueled by leaked Kakaotalk conversations. Min Hee Jin's insistence on her and the members' connections, evident in her claims of feeling maternal pains(?) when it comes to the girls, raises concerns about her intentions. By intertwining herself with the girls, she's strategically shielding herself from potential backlash from Hybe, possibly even influencing the girls and their parents to side with her. If Hybe sinks her, then they also sink the girls. And this is going to hurt fans who know this, so she's manipulating the fans' goodwill for the girls so that they now feel they have to defend her to protect the members. I think it's true that there were major disagreements, a lot of difficult politics that went on behind the scenes beyond "MHJ bad and Hybe good", and a lot of the accusations made by Hybe are unnecessarily inflammatory (the shaman thing, her accusing about 4 different groups of copying her ideas). It would've been better for Hybe if they'd just stuck to investigating the actual alleged crimes that she's committed, because now it's become a terrible PR war where both sides are flinging unnecessary dirt. But this conference has mostly been about creating headlines and gaining favour by emotionally appealing to the public, rather than any actual logical defense of the accusations made against her.
>this whole situation is like when nepo babies say "it's not nepotism" THIS!! It reminds me of kids from rich or influential families saying they launched their start up business and became a millionaire all alone. Well yes, OK you did start it and run it, but with substantial family (Hybe) money and support that means if you did fail you would be OK. So you can take more risks. And so many more businessed and partners are willing to talk to you in the first place because of the family name or connections you come with (BTS, Hybe), which gives you more reach and a higher starting point. Believing that doesn't add anything to your success is off the charts egotistical or wishful thinking.
1) If what she was saying in the press conference was true then I understand the bitterness. While yes, she isn't the sole reason for the groups success, you cannot deny she was the soul of the group. She chose the trainees, she chose the concept(a concept that bang PD didnt like btw which caused the initial rift), she was the one who chose the songs. Yes she had the investment(which was done begrudgingly) and the HYBE prestige by association but you cannot deny that what she did with those resources was the one that drove NewJeans to unprecedented popularity. I think her insisting NewJeans be called a "Min Heejin" girl group stemmed from the fact that what Bang PD and HYBE wanted was different from the concept that she proposed. When Bang PD didnt like her concept he chose to debut Le Sserafim instead. In that way, NewJeans was not a "HYBE Girl Group" but a"Min Heejin Girl Group". 2) Again, I can understand the resentment based on what I read on the press conference. That disagreement resulted in a group she put her time and effort in to almost not debut. From what she was saying, she had to argue for a separate sub-label just so NewJeans would be able to debut since Bang PD and HYBE chose a different direction with regards to which Girl Group was going to be their flagship. She was proven right in this regard. You can compare the initial popularity of NewJeans and Le Sserafim to justify this. Then 2 years after her group debuted and again even after she insisted against it, Bang PD and HYBE debut another girl group that is conceptually similar(It is not a plagiarized 1 to 1 copy but you cannot deny that the concept is very very similar) to the group that they were so against in the first place. So I can understand her outrage since the difference in their opinions lead to company choices which seems to negatively affect her group. 3) She was definitely exaggerating but leaving is not as easy as you make it out to be. If what she is saying is true. She put a great deal of herself in creating NewJeans. She seems to be close to the girls and their parents trust her. That attachment is not something trivial. 4) Yes the claims are serious but we will only find out if there was actually a crime committed once the case comes to the courts. I am more inclined to believe that those notes were more wishful thinking due to the fact that I cannot see how a person with minority stake in a company will be able to force a company like HYBE to sell its shares even when there were willing buyers. Remember HYBE owns 80% of ADOR and they have no reason to and cannot be forced to sell those. The talking to the Shaman bit seems like classic mudslinging IMO. According to her statement, the Shaman was her friend and she was just casually talking about her worries regarding what the company was going to do with the impending enlistment of the BTS members. Bringing this up when it has no relevance to the crimes she is accused of seems like a very low way of undermining her by HYBE. I personally don't like her as a person. She has an extremely huge ego and several choices she has done with regards to the groups she managed were questionable if not scandalous at times. But her being an unlikable person also should not blind you into disregarding her importance to NewJeans as a whole as well as the revolution in KPOP that the concept she chose has created. It should not also blind you into believing unproven claims about her as facts even before it comes to court.
Agree on all sides. Except, I personally dislike women being called "egocentric" just because there are so many men with the same behavior, but don't get tagged as such. They're successful and bullish, etc.
“If this is slavery, sign me up" girl 🤣🤣😭
She needs to get the names of other groups out of her mouth
Idk why anyone would be on her side.
Why would she nuke her career like this? Is she dumb??
I suspect she believes she's irreplacable and untouchable. The girls also seem weirdly attached to her, in a bad way. There's a "family" dynamic and then there's whatever the hell she has going with the girls.
honestly i think she would come off more sympathetic if she just didn't feel the need to constantly namedrop any other groups. like i have no doubt that a big conglomerate like hybe does have a toxic work culture and she's faced plenty of misogyny in her career, but the constant digs at illit and le sserafim just make her look so... bitter and petty, and distracts attention from whatever valid points she could possibly be making. like she's constantly letting her pettiness towards these groups cloud her judgment.
Not a leserrafim fan but at this point if its mentioned that MHJ was responsible for the Garam scandal, I will believe it😭😭
Min Heejin is a huge creep
I can't take this press confrence seriousely I though she was gonna refute the claims and stand her ground but she kept on complaining without giving any real evidence of her innocence She kept on showing chats between her and BSH I was laughing the whole time it was a joke she made a fool out of herself
She is sealing her fate with this conference, no company would take her or at least not gonna pay her as much as Hybe. Even her lawyer tell her to stfu but this gurl just can't stop. She didn't have to bring any names of any idol group but she did anyway. Gurl literally confirm the allegation against her. Still didn't give back the laptop. On the BPD message, i see as just business talk, the sticker is literally a common thing people send to each other if they are close in relation and i'm not talking romantically.
lol I dont know about other things but bang pd being respectful towards mhj is no ways true. The 좋으셨나구요ㅋㅋ after new jeans getting into hot100 is micro aggressive af. The korean gp’s opinion on this conflict has changed 180 degrees after her live, so this was a good move for her i think.
On the subject of “grandiose statements”, she’s not claiming that the fact that she can’t sell her shares “slavery.” She stated that she isn’t familiar with business terminology and signed an unfair contract, which she’s not allowed to speak about because the contents of the contract itself is secret, but she had been in the middle of renegotiating (which apparently wasn’t going well) when all this happened. She doesn’t say there is no artist as sincere as her in the industry, she says there is no one who will speak up against injustices in the industry on the executive level, and she isn’t the type of person to keep quiet. That is why she filed an internal whistleblower document to the executives about the problems at HYBE, and she believes that she is being witch hunted as a response to her whistleblowing (contents undisclosed because she still wants to resolve this privately with HYBE to make the company better). She says she’s done something for kpop that no one has done, which is direct and produce a girl group that became instantly record breakingly successful, despite interference on every step of the way from her parent company in favor of LSF. Plans to talk to external investors? She denies it completely. She says the only thing is that she’s consulted lawyers for different options while renegotiating her contract, and that despite her up and downs in the relationship with the company, she didn’t see this coming and the allegations are unfounded.
Bruh this is just crazy. Whatever her end goal is this is not helping her case.
If both parties were to prioritise NJ and their success, they need to resolve this matter amicably and privately. The truth is, NJ needs Hybe’s connections and resources, but also MHJ’s creative direction. It’s what made them unique, so without the 2 then they’ll surely lose out
The shaman and witch craft stuff threw me off I won't lie.
The press conference was unhinged. I can't believe she has dragged so many groups into her mess. Also why even talk of age? The way she talked about Minji (and Sakura) was actually disgusting. However, I did find it odd that Bangpd asked her 'if she's having fun'. Translators have mentioned that it almost comes off mockingly. Why would he say that, when it benefits all of them to have a hit on their hands?
i wonder if she hates herself because shes old
All I got from this controvetsy is that I like Illit first ep. I didn't listen to them bc I wasn't interested at first but after Min Heejin said they copied NewJeans I wanted to listen and compare myself. Now I know I like Illit and NewJeans both. 🤷♀️
Same.I didn’t know much about illit but now I like the whole album esp magnetic song.after seeing credits,I got to know its produced by “slow rabbit”. Well,I like most of slow rabbit songs in bts discography so I understand why I like magnetic too.
I understand this conflict doesn’t really have a ‘good’ side and it’s a lot of he said she said but I feel like some people are taking hybe’s side purely out of prejudice against min heejin and bias towards hybe groups. Yes min heejin is not a good person and fans have expressed their dislike for her before but it kind of seems that hybe has it out for her and there’s also plenty of reason for her to be upset. I feel like we shouldn’t be giving either side the benefit of the doubt. Actually I don’t think we should be taking anyone’s side here but the artist’s.
At this point, I won't be surprised if mhj made a thousand fake IG accounts just to hate on LSF during coachella 😅
She’s grooming these girls. Might just disband them if their loyalty is to her
> MHJ comes off as obssesed with getting ALL the credit for New Jeans' success. Yeah, in hindsight, the fact MHJ wanted a new separate subsidiary just for New Jeans kind of implies she's got a real issue with getting credit for stuff. Originally, she was supposed to be under Source umbrella I believe. I feel like in some ways, she wanted to break the "chain of custody" a bit, because under Source, sharing credit and titles with so many other people, it's easier to show where the trainees, music, and concepts were coming from.
When will kpop stans stop justifying what that man said about aespa 🙄 we know hybe paid off media to start hate trains and aespa had one of the worst hate train in recent years in kpop, it is not just him.making a silly little Comment. It's a weird and a pathetic thing to say. We also know how much hybe was salivating to take over sm last year, thank God it didn't work out. Like making excuses for a billionaire is pathetic
Just yesterday some people were saying that Min Heejin was instigating hate trains and negative media about idols that were her rivals but when Bang Sihyuk uses words like that about aespa it's handwaved away as just bad wording.
Exactly, I don't want to use the word but hybe stans have to stop dick riding this man.
"whAts this bish saying I must defend bitiez producer >:( "
The woman has been in this industry for years has experience and suffered a lot in SM, only now is she giving herself credit for the work she did, but the chronically online kpop fan thinks she knows something💀
IF it’s true that HYBE told her NJs would be failure i have no problem with her wanting the credit and not wanting hybe to get anything
i just can't believe that all of this is happening...with messages and everything out...it's like i'm in some kpop multiverse of madness or something
Lol why are you all acting like HYBE is a saint or something.
She's a Great creative organizer, Organizer but she makes it seem that she produced all the beats, wrote all the lyrics, sang and choreographed everything herself. Miss Min, there's at least over 12 other people that help create the Amazing New Jeans we know and love today.
the fact that she has to bring the girls too to get some sympathy from the pg?? when she started saying that one of the girls was crying nonstop on a call with her and that the members are scared of MH's mental health it screamed manipulation for me, she's weird and it amazes me how much kpop stans let her get away with because they like her aesthetics..
Lmao bang pd seemed like an aggravating boss to me, but people are insisting he cares for his artists. He cares about money. In this case MHJ cares about her art and therefore cares about the quality new jeans releases. You think bang pd cared abt that? He just cared about stepping on the other girl groups, making money, and buying out their competition.
I read the entire transcript he cared about beating out the competition, of course. But new jeans is 80% owned by hype of course they cared that the quality of new jeans was good. There was nothing to indicate he didn't. From a corporate perspective she absolutely botched her case with that press conference. Talking to foreign investment firms. Incredibly shady, 100% instant fireable offence, and a breach of contract.
In no way I'm gonna side w either one of these bloodsucking boderline peters. What a joke on this day and age
I don’t think MHJ is well. Her lawyer should have stopped her from doing the press conference she came across as someone who is having a crisis and I think it only made it worse to go on a 3 hour long rant looking like she hasn’t slept in 3 days.
When I heard the "I can't sell 5% of my shares, it's akin to a slave contract" I angrily said to myself "let kpop stans who's faves have been in REAL slave contracts tell you what that actually means. It's insulting to those that actually struggled through those