NewJeans absent from HYBE's concert, estranged after 'family turmoil'?

The tension between HYBE and Min Hee Jin - CEO of subsidiary company ADOR is currently causing a stir in the Korean entertainment industry and shows no signs of stopping. Currently, the object most affected by this noise seems to be the girl group NewJeans.

Recently, HYBE finalized the full line-up for the Weverse Con Festival 2024 event that will take place next June. Weverse Con Festival is an annual music festival, organized on a large scale to bring a unique and engaging experience for fans to connect with their idols. Weverse is a fan-idol exchange platform developed by HYBE group, so Weverse Con Festival will always have the appearance of affiliated music groups.

Except for BTS, which is temporarily inactive, the remaining groups under HYBE including BOYNEXTDOOR, ENHYPEN, fromis_9, LE SSERAFIM, SEVENTEEN, TXT, TWS, &Team all appear in the lineup alongside many guest artists such as 10CM, Kwon Eunbi, boy group AI Plave...

In addition, the event also invited President Park Jin Young of JYP as a special guest, noted as a "tribute artist", showing that HYBE is extremely grateful to the teacher who encouraged Bang Si Hyuk to found Big Hit. .

Notably, NewJeans is the only artist in the group that does not participate in this event.

The audience all thought that this was the first consequence of the conflict between HYBE and the "mother of NewJeans" CEO Min Hee Jin. On the other hand, due to the absence from the "family concert", many fans also began to worry about NewJeans' future artistic activities.

At Weverse Con Festival 2023 , NewJeans is one of the highlight artists and attracts the most fans at the event.

Public opinion is divided into many directions, people think that despite the intense drama, Min Hee Jin is still managing NewJeans, it is very possible that the female CEO influenced the group to not be able to attend the group's concert. NewJeans is also the only group under the corporation that does not use Weverse to communicate with fans but creates a separate application called Phoning.

However, most are concerned about the future of NewJeans. Being the most famous girl group of HYBE but not being able to perform at the "homemade" concert, many speculations have arisen about NewJeans being "estranged" from the group due to siding with Min Hee Jin. In the near future, NewJeans will make a comeback at the end of May, officially debuting in Japan in June. Because of the intense litigation, fans can't help but worry that scheduled projects will be affected.

Starting on the morning of April 22, the media reported that HYBE conducted an audit with ADOR's board of directors because it discovered a plot to take over management. ADOR is a subsidiary invested in by HYBE and founded in 2021 by Min Hee Jin - former SM creative director.

Min Hee Jin was accused by HYBE of stealing business information, manipulating shareholders and "dirty media" affecting artists and the group. Min Hee Jin's conspiracy with ADOR's leadership is to pave the way for separation from HYBE group.

Faced with the accusations, Min Hee Jin "mixed the waters" with a rebuttal accusing HYBE of letting BELIFT LAB - an affiliated label - copy NewJeans' successful formula for the new girl group ILLIT. The female CEO of ADOR publicly criticized Bang Si Hyuk, asked HYBE to explain and pushed the first girl group to the "head of the storm" with the statement "ILLIT copied NewJeans".

As planned, NewJeans will officially make a comeback at the end of May with a single released in Korea. The group also marked their "Japanese advancement" debut in June with a large-scale fan meeting at Tokyo Dome, and at the same time released Japanese music. Therefore, when the "war" at the top broke out right before the comeback, NewJeans fans couldn't help but worry.

Latest update, Korean media said that both NewJeans and parents are leaning towards Min Hee Jin. Min Hee Jin's email protesting "NewJeans is being damaged by ILLIT plagiarizing concepts" and "HYBE is treating NewJeans badly" was shared with both NewJeans and the members' parents.

Accordingly, in Min Hee Jin's retort shared on the afternoon of April 22, it was confirmed that all statements - including the accusation of ILLIT copying - were agreed upon by NewJeans and its legal representative.

People are worried that NewJeans' upcoming schedules will be interrupted, especially when the group is on the path of "advancing to America" and "advancing to Japan". However, on HYBE's side, it can be seen that the company maintains the stance of "not giving up on NewJeans". This was mentioned by HYBE CEO Park Ji Won in his letter to console the group's employees.

NewJeans parents publicly supported Min Hee Jin, netizens sighed sadly Phong Trần15:27:40 23/04/2024Amid the conflict between HYBE and Min Hee Jin, industry representatives revealed that NewJeans parents as well as members all unanimously support the statements and direction of this infamous female CEO.