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Kim Seon Ho's ex-girlfriend accused an actor 'K' in her statement online, without revealing the name. However, she claimed that the actor was recently under the spotlight for losing his temper on a variety show. This led to netizens speculating that the actor involved in the scandal was none other than Kim Seon Ho.
Brand representatives did not wait for confirmation, however, and dropped Kim Seon Ho from their social networking sites. Some of the brands removed posts featuring the actor and even made videos featuring the star private on video sites such as YouTube. However, they have now come under fire for jumping the gun.
Statement from brand representatives about Kim Seon Ho controversy
In a statement to Sports Chosun, brand representatives revealed what caused them anxiety and why they had decided to pull all marketing material down.
They said:
"When the scandal broke, we tried to get in touch with him or his agency the whole day. We needed answers but it had been impossible to get a hold of him. We don’t understand why he decided to ghost us, too. He should have explained the situation and let us handle it with him. Only had he been up front, we wouldn’t have had to cut ties with him."
Another brand representative was quoted as saying that it was lack of communication that drove them to their decision. The representative also claimed that Kim Seon Ho had become unreliable by going radio silent regarding the issue.
In a statement, the representatives stated:
"Fame comes with additional responsibilities. Having more endorsements means having more terms and conditions to live by… And after seeing how little he cared for his responsibilities as a model binded by contract with us, we realized it would be impossible to continue working with him."
They added:
"Kim Seon Ho’s reputation isn’t as important as his reliability. We need to be able to trust him as our model. But because he handled the crisis with zero professionalism and maturity, we have no choice but to reconsider our contract. We foresee that it will be difficult for him to rebuild trust with other brands as well."
According to News1, it was revealed that Korean brands are quick to take action when dealing with scandals.
They explained:
"When signing a modeling contract, brands often include a morals clause binding both parties involved to prohibit certain behaviors. This, then, becomes the basis of their termination and penalty request when something does happen."
They also added:
"While the clause itself is vague and open to interpretation—meaning its implementation also varies by the contract period and the situation at hand, an average termination penalty ranges from 200-300% of the initially signed modeling royalty."
What are the losses that Kim Seon Ho will face due to endorsement terminations?
According to an insider quoted in the report:
"Kim Seon Ho had been earning ₩400 million KRW (about $340,000 USD) to ₩500 million KRW (about $425,000 USD) per endorsement in 2021.”
This would mean that if the brands decided to terminate their contract and seek penalty charges, he would owe a total of ₩5.00 billion (about $4.25 million) in penalties. He was endorsing about 10 brands before the scandal broke, and since then content related to him has been dropped.
However, brands have not informed the actor of the contract termination. For one, the Nau brand revealed:
"Nothing has been decided yet. Any content featuring the actor has been removed since the scandal but the brand has not yet agreed on termination.”
