SEOUL, Nov 2 — A fresh round of alleged internal documents from South Korean entertainment company HYBE have surfaced, just days after its CEO Lee Jae-sang issued an official apology on October 29.
HYBE’s industry trend report was first made public during the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee audit on October 24.
Portions of the document spread online, caused a backlash for the company’s toxic culture, with disparaging remarks aimed towards other companies as well as popular idols Blackpink, TWICE, IVE, aespa, Stray Kids, NCT Dream, (G)I-DLE, Seunghan formerly of RIIZE, NCT’s Haechan and NMIXXs’ Haewon.
Despite Lee’s apology to “on behalf of the company to the artists, industry professionals, and fans for the content of our monitoring documents,” and promising to immediately halt the creation of documents, the K-Pop community has been raging over ‘new’ material shared by an individual claiming to be an employee in an online community.
Revelation from the November 1 documents include:
• Confirmation that artists from Source Music (a subsidiary of HYBE) in LE SSERAFIM lip-syncing for past performances, including the 2023 Asia Artist Awards. The group was targeted for their live performances, especially at Coachella.
From the report: “As for their stages, after the challenging MAMA conditions, the composition is becoming clearer, and reactions have been improving. However, there are still some disadvantages regarding the lip-syncing issue, which has drawn criticism, even at AAA, for not performing live”.
• Criticism targeted towards Blackpink and its members.
From the report: “Several problems within Jisoo’s fandom have also surfaced online along with the recent information about Jisoo. The suspicions that Rosé’s dating rumor and illegal drug rumor were both spread by Jisoo’s fans has come up again, and is a topic that crawls back up again every once in awhile so it may be a good issue to bring up around right around the timing of her solo promotions.”
From the report: “This has even led to the team’s overall image being substantially damaged (in reference to Lisa’s French cabaret Crazy Horse performance), after other Blackpink members went to see the show. This group has never been known for intentionally using themes like feminism or gender issues as part of their image, so that’s assumed to be why the issue has passed by rather quietly.”
• Numerous degrading remarks directed at IVE
From the report: “They couldn’t even win #1 on Music Bank. Their scores are so poor that they can’t even make it into the nominations.”
Also from the report: “The company must have felt desperate, because they went on Na Young Suk PD’s live broadcast at 10 PM…they actually had all of the IVE members go on the live to talk about their comeback, which made the atmosphere awkward. It’s not like Na Young Suk PD knows much about idols, so the quality of the questions asked was just too pitiful. The members were trying so hard to liven up the atmosphere with an ahjusshi they barely know, and it was a risky situation because one mistake could have made them look bratty.”
• Enhyphen’s exhaustion on stage and off was also a topic, especially their performance at KCON LA 2022.
From the report: “I monitored that the members look very tired, and this may not solely be an issue with physical condition but possibly related to their mental state or the level of psychological rewards they’re receiving. In this case, finding a way to encourage and keep them motivated is crucial to maintaining quality, but if this doesn’t happen, the results could turn out like the recent KCON performance. Although they worked hard, the reviews are negative, frustrations build up among each other, and this negative energy eventually affects the team’s momentum.”
• Sunghoon from Enhyphen’s weighty issue was also a focus, with claims of him looking “less attractive” including his face appearing swollen and styling issues that requires him to find what made him “unattractive” including weight management.
From the report: “It seems that if he has a tendency to swell easily, he should work on finding ways to address it. He might need to take proactive steps, like weight management, to mitigate any risks himself. While this isn’t an unattractive team, their looks tend to be more polarizing than expected. Sunghoon’s appearance needs to consistently meet fan expectations, similar to how Minhyun from NU’EST served as a stable visual anchor for his group.”
• Discussions on how to make HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk more “likable” versus his competition in J.Y. Park (JYP) and Lee Soo Man (SM Entertainment).
From the report: “I wonder if it would be worthwhile to plan a long-term approach where overseas magazines highlight [Bang] during major events at the US branch. For example, instead of the Fortune or the Time magazines, it could be something like GQ highlighting him. The first sentence should be something like, ‘He is not the king of K-Pop.’ The idea is to emphasize his role as a game-changer who breaks genre boundaries and shifts the paradigm.”
• Pro-Palestine protests launched against the company and its artists was also mentioned in the document, with Hybe’s to “wait for the issue to pass” with a note that South Korea is not involved in the conflict.
From the report: “Recently, there has been an intensifying political intervention campaign led by overseas fandoms around brands like Starbucks and McDonald’s in relation to the Israel issue. Although I previously mentioned this, South Korea isn’t a country involved in the conflict, so the wisest choice is likely to wait for the issue to pass. However, with the Golden Disc Awards as a turning point, Indonesian fans have been heavily promoting this issue to other fans on platforms like Weverse. There was even an incident where Jake agreed with a post by an overseas fan urging people not to support Starbucks, responding with a reflective comment, which has stirred some controversy.”
• International vs domestic fans was also an issue in relation to the pro-Palestine issue with the document addresses fans’ efforts to “educate” idols, marking them as a potential risk as the term upset domestic fans.
From the report: The term “education on the issue,” often used by international fans, is particularly upsetting for Korean fans, creating a potential risk.”
Also from the report: “It’s a sensitive time where managing the atmosphere is crucial. If fans rally around unrelated issues to push for member reactions, the situation could become more complicated.”
• EXO’s Baekhyun vs BTS’ Jungkook with a direct comparison between a member of SM Entertainment’s boyband member against its own talent
From the report: “It might be because EXO wasn’t able to come back as strongly as he hoped, and/or perhaps because he can’t help but notice his own position is becoming unstable. But he seems to be feeling a bit desperate. He even went live on Instagram at 7 AM to show fans his morning stretching routine with a foam roller. While he has always been good at communicating with fans, showcasing such an overly-casual side makes it hard to say he hasn’t been influenced by Jungkook.”
Also mentioned in less than flattering tones were other idol groups in Monsta X, iKON, TO1, The Boyz, Stray Kids, VIVIZ, NMIXX, Treasure as well as their own subsidiary in ADOR.
