Source Music argued that Min\u2019s statements at a press conference last year\u2014claiming, \u201cI picked NewJeans\u201d and \u201cThe promise to debut them as HYBE\u2019s first girl group wasn\u2019t kept\u201d were false. The company insisted that it, not Min, cast the NewJeans members and that no promise had been made regarding the first group debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former CEO Min’s side argued that the context, not the statement itself, should be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They explained, \u201cStarting around July 2019, HYBE and Chairman Bang Si-hyuk had been promoting externally that former CEO Min would be in charge of directing HYBE\u2019s first girl group,\u201d and \u201cThe members of New Jeans joined the N Team project, where former CEO Min was involved in the preparation process from the concept stage, with the expectation that they would become the first girl group through such media reports. This is what is written in the plaintiff\u2019s report.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They continued, \u201cThe debut was delayed because the music concept that Chairman Bang promised to provide was not provided on time, and he suddenly broke his promise by giving up on the plan to debut Team N first and saying that he would debut Team S first,\u201d and said that Chairman Bang\u2019s breaking of his promise was the beginning of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding the entity responsible for casting the New Jeans members, they stated, “They claim that Source Music was the one who actually selected the members, cast them on the street, and signed them, but we need to look at the context. The significance of the casting is that former CEO Min selected the members of Team N from among many candidates, assigned roles, and branded the newly launched girl group.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding Source Music\u2019s claim that Min called the company a \u201cThug for selling trainees,\u201d her team clarified: \u201c\u2018Are you a thug?\u2019 and \u2018You are a thug\u2019 are different statements. At the press conference, Min did not call them a thug. Saying \u2018they sold trainees\u2019 reflects Source Music\u2019s previous opposition to transferring trainees and their request for ADOR\u2019s equity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, Min\u2019s legal team reiterated that neither Chairman Bang nor Source Music made sufficient efforts to debut NewJeans. They addressed Source Music\u2019s evidence of Min\u2019s message, \u201cI also wanted to leave last. The protagonist comes last,\u201d explaining that it reflected her objection to S-team debuting first after being informed by then-CEO Park Ji Won, rather than agreeing with the decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Ador CEO Min Hee-jin ‘s side refuted Source Music’s defamation claims. Source Music argued that Min\u2019s statements at a press conference last year\u2014claiming, \u201cI picked NewJeans\u201d and \u201cThe promise to debut them as HYBE\u2019s first girl group wasn\u2019t kept\u201d were false. The company insisted that it, not Min, cast the NewJeans members and that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":177880305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177880312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive-contracts","category-industry","category-kpop"],"yoast_head":"\n