'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
On Thursday, July 10, HINCE, the makeup brand that held ENHYPEN's Sunghoon as its brand ambassador, released a statement clarifying a few details around the recent contract termination between the two parties. Previously, an employee from the Japanese partnership of the makeup brand released a statement claiming that the contract termination was related to the recent typo controversy that surrounded the idol.
On July 7, during a fan listening party on Weverse, the idol seemingly typed in a racial slur that is offensive to the Japanese community. However, the idol meant to write "Good job," and soon corrected his spelling. Regardless, many netizens were angered by the idol's alleged use of a racial slur.
Trending
As the controversy gained attention, the ENHYPEN member released a Weverse post apologizing to fans for his mistake and explaining that it was a typo. Therefore, when the HINCE employee speculated that this controversy was the reason behind the brand's contract termination with the idol, many fans were angered and disappointed by their actions.
However, according to the new statement released by HINCE, it was revealed that the contract termination had nothing to do with the idol's typo controversy, and that the employee's statement was not the company's official stance. Regardless, many fans still felt that the statement failed to take accountability.
They criticized the brand for their lack of protection towards the idol who was a brand ambassador of HINCE, demanding a proper apology for the alleged defamation against the idol.
"apologize to sunghoon," one fan tweeted.
Others also shared similar sentiments.
"incredibly unprofessional and f*cking rude. hince would be nothing without sunghoon, they literally owe all of their success to him and pull this sh*t? this is so unfair for him, sunghoon deserves so much better than all of this," said a fan on X.
"they had the audacity to spread false information like that, doing something disapproval and clearly wrong. engagement or pure hate, whatever reason they really should be taken legal action because its unacceptable. sunghoon has given their products a f*cking SPOTLIGHT," added another fan.
"no one knows your brand before sunghoon at least apologize to him," commented a netizen.
More fans and netizens demanded a proper apology from the brand and the staff for the speculations that landed on the internet.
"You better take action because your company has gained more people due to Sunghoon & engenes using ur product. Give some respect to our hoon at least," stated a fan.
"please be nice and humble to your previous brand ambassador cause i really bought a lot of your products only because of that your previous brand ambassador," added an X user.
"its so stupid that you would do something so unprofessional when your sales have increased thanks to engenes. its so wrong to do something like this when sunghoon gave you his all and you rose so much thanks to him?? you owe sunghoon a big apology," said a netizen.
"If this brand doesnt apologize to sunghoon, i hope engenes never buy from this brand again," commented another X user.
HINCE releases official statement clarifying speculations on contract termination with ENHYPEN's Sunghoon being related to typo controversy
On July 19, HINCE released an official statement through their X account addressing the recent speculations around the brand's contract termination with ENHYPEN's Sunghoon. They clarified that the claims that the termination was due to the typo controversy were not true.
The statement, as translated from Korean, read:
"Recently, the customer response content of a local hince business partner in Japan was shared and spread through, an external community, and in the process, we confirmed that the content was misunderstood as hince's official position, causing confusion and concern to some customers."
It further read:
"Please note that this content was delivered without prior consultation with the head office and does not represent the official position of hince. We take seriously the fact that the head office-level inspection and communication management were insufficient during the process, and we sincerly apologize for any confusion caused to our customers who were bewildered by the unexpected situation."
Their statement also explained that the contract was terminated before the controversy.
"In addition, the model contract with the artist in question has already ended separately from this matter, and as the brand does not have direct management authority over matters that occured after the termination of the contract with the artist in question, we ask for your understanding that we are limited in revealing a specific position."
They concluded their statement by expressing that they will be reworking on the communcation procedures with their local business partners to avoid such mistakes from occuring again. HINCE also apologized for any inconvenice or confusion that the controversy caused.
Stay tuned for more updates.
