“Does not mean that HYBE intends to abandon the artist”—ADOR clarifies “drop new and start over” remark following NewJeans’ legal notice disclosure

The girl group NewJeans' contract with HYBE and its subsidiary label ADOR was effectively terminated on Friday, November 29, 2024. According to South Korean news outlet Ten Asia, amid the contract termination controversy, the agency was criticized for its alleged remark in a leaked HYBE internal report.

The Democratic Party of Korea initially brought up the internal report at the National Assembly Audit on October 24, 2024. Around 2,000 pages of the 18,000-page document were exposed, which reportedly contained defamatory and demeaning comments about other K-pop rival groups. These included IVE, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, and the agency's own group NewJeans.

The report was written by the former Weverse director who also allegedly included his personal opinions. A segment in particular highlighted where the remarks suggest to "drop New" and "start over" with LE SSERAFIM.

However, ADOR addressed the personal remarks of the former Weverse executive and the original author of the leaked HYBE internal report on November 29, 2024. They clarified that the remark was meant to indicate dropping LE SSERAFIM's current plans and starting with newer ideas, and not what fans assumed. Netizens and fans speculated that the label wanted to discard NewJeans.

"In other words, the meaning of 'drop New' is the writer's idea that LE SSERAFIM should 'let go of the categorization of constantly being compared to NewJeans, who have already achieved great success,' and create their own separate domain. It does not mean that HYBE intends to abandon the artist at all," they said.

ADOR continued that the remarks were the personal opinion of a former HYBE executive and couldn't be considered "unlawful acts against HYBE or the artist."

"The report was written by a member of HYBE, and it is difficult for HYBE to directly audit and take personnel actions against HYBE's members. Also, looking at the contents, there does not seem to be any part that can be considered illegal or unlawful acts against HYBE or the artist."

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NewJeans parts ways with both ADOR and HYBE eight days after Min Hee-jin's resignation

NewJeans sent a certified letter to the parent company and ADOR on November 14, 2024. They demanded a number of things including the reinstatement of former CEO Min Hee-jin as the head of ADOR. They also had the following demands:

1. The manager who instructed another group to "ignore Hanni" must formally apologize.
2. Videos, pictures, and other materials that were used without permission must be removed.
3. An investigation into the harm caused to NewJeans by the "album push" and a remedy must be found.

The girl group gave HYBE a 14-day window and announced their plans to terminate their contract if their demands were not fulfilled by November 28, 2024. Following this, on November 20, Min Hee-jin resigned as HYBE's shareholder and as the inside director of ADOR. She was fired as ADOR's CEO on August 27, 2024, but was rehired as the inside director on October 17, 2024.

The girl group held an emergency press conference on November 28, 2024, and said that both HYBE and ADOR failed to fulfill the demands mentioned in the certified letter. The group asserted that they would work freely upon leaving the label and would also retain the group name.

However, as per the contractual binding and law, the group cannot claim the name "NewJeans" as its copyright belongs to HYBE and ADOR. NewJeans also stated that they don't have to worry about paying the penalty fee of 300 billion won (over $215 million) to HYBE for contract annulment as they didn't violate any clause.

It is yet to be determined how this situation would legally unfold in terms of penalty fees and more court battles.