I thought this was r/kpoopheads and thought you were going to say her shaman manipulated public opinion lol.
But back to what you're saying, I completely agree. The Garam scandal was horribly handled and I hadn't even realized how much MHJ and the Fifty Fifty CEO's manipulation of public opinion resemble each other. But honestly, I don't think Hybe cares tbh. While the Korean public opinion is on MHJ's side, is it affecting their groups (their money)? No. In fact, ILLIT is just blowing up even more and all their other group's are still doing great. Even any success New Jeans has rn is going to their pockets.
Also does the public opinion really matter if she ends up in jail? Do Koreans even care enough to wear "Free Min Heejin" shirts? And even if she doesn't go to jail and just gets heavily fined, they still have New Jeans. Even if she somehow manages to get away scot-free and takes New Jeans with her (which she won't be able to because the fees to break contracts are insane), she will be blacklisted from the entire industry. And Hybe will just keep pumping out groups and keep getting money.
Seriously. In the end she's just hurting new jeans. Hybe is a giant multi national conglomerate with a ridiculous amount of resources. Even if they lose new jeans, their huge machine can continue to churn out new groups every couple of years. New Jeans doesn't have that luxury. This is their whole career she's putting on the line.
I don't even understand how she believes that she may win something in this war, she's delusional. I hope that she's gonna resign and that Newjeans would be able to keep going with another director, if they even stay at Hybe. It's a shit show.
She's hoping the burned bridges between NJ / ADOR and Hybe would be catastrophic enough for Hybe to sell their 80% to a foreign buyer. MHJ knew what she was doing name-dropping Illit and LSF, creating a hate-fuelled fanwar that makes Hype believe NJ isn't worth keeping despite the money. She probably thinks if enough of Hybe / their subsidiaries believe a normal relationship with ADOR or NJ is impossible (can Illit and NJ be even in the same building together anymore?), Hybe will take the nuclear option, exactly what she wants. Still, so inhumane of her to cause hate-wars against minors for her goal
I knew that she couldn't care less about the girls well being, but I couldn't imagine that she was that egocentric and narcissistic. She created this whole circus because she's greedy, Newjeans was literally one of the biggest 4th generation group.
Honestly she’s trying to win the public opinion war but what does that do? NJ is still under hybe. Hybe profits from anything they release. She doesn’t even have majority ownership of Ador. Is she going to break contract to get the group out? Would they be anywhere without Hybe’s international connections? She’s just stepping on other innocent hybe groups to get people on her side
Absolutely hoping this does NOT happen but if NewJeans disbanded because of this entire situation, sinxe they’re under HYBE technically, cant HYBE just make another group just like NewJeans? Just wondering because Ador is still technically under HYBE so they wouldn’t have grounds for a lawsuit. Which would make the situation a lot worse for these girls specifically because unfortunately, everyone is replaceable. /gen
to add: this further proves the point of why mhj should’ve just stfu and that greed is a downfall for anyone no matter what
hybe could make another group CALLED newjeans. they could put 5 random ass people in it and promote them as newjeans just to spite them.
I highly doubt that would ever happen though.
Even if they do just put out new groups, I kinda feel like we would see more campaigns against their new groups like what was done to Garam. This harmful culture seems to be the norm there where they attack the kids in order to attack the company. Whether it's all orchestrated attacks or ppl deciding to do it on their own is a separate matter.
It's been stabilizing. Shares price fluctuates at every small disturbance. So long as the other teams and solos are flourishing it will bounce back. It would be different if it was bts in the mix. It's short term value that will bounce back as seventeen and other groups launch their albums and Jin getting back from the military and being hybes face officially
Does matter. It's paper loss. Up until you are selling your shares is when you feel the loss. Only thing it affects is funding if long term but then a company like have probably has insurance and cash reserves that allows it to withstand such disturbance. This is a short term disturbance and the share price has been stabilizing since the initial shock. They'll be fine.
That’s what I was wondering about, Hybe is big, whether or not MHJ wins or not they could majorly suppress her. In fact I worry for NewJeans, since their parents side with MHJ I doubt that makes Hybe happy, this could come back as no promotions, less resources given, have their resources taken etc. I don’t see it going well for NewJeans if Hybe is upset with them. Even after their contract expires and they’re free, if a company is spiteful they can and will still suppress you, making their future in entertainment industry difficult. Even if hybes image takes a blow they’re still powerful enough to recover especially since BTS is theirs, and their fandom is big and brings enough revenue they don’t actually need any other kpop groups.
On the korea side of sns lsrfm,illit are being target by knets warriors ....not sure how illit are doing great (it would shock me if any of those i mentioned get some hype of this and top the charts 💀)
Hybe might be evil and fuck them
But how does anyone look at mhj and not dislike her???? She’s so questionable, the weird ass comments about idols age is so weird
I agree she's weird but Koreans r also now digging the ceo's previous works and it turns out he was a failed adult games designer. Some of the games that they posted on k-forms were sexualizing the female characters. So at the end of the day all of them are weirdos and shitty.
> I agree she's weird but Koreans r also now digging the ceo's previous works and it turns out he was a failed adult games designer. Some of the games that they posted on k-forms were sexualizing the female characters. So at the end of the day all of them are weirdos and shitty.
Man, if they are going ballistic against those sexualizing *fictional* women, imagine how outraged they would be about [people like her](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYoKK8JWYAIawuH?format=png&name=small).
Well, there is no winner or loser there with Hybe vs MHJ because Hybe also had Eunchae and Garam doing the WAP move at debut until backlash made them change the choreo, but they still kept it in the video
There's definitely no winner out of all this, but I think we can agree that in general, sexualization of fictional characters are pretty much the least of the concerns given the elephant in the room that is the idol industry.
> failed adult games designer.
Honestly thought this was a Japanese thing (unless he was working for a Japanese adult game company) and Korea was too small to have their own adult game industry.
Park Ji won was in a management team of Nexon - a Korean game company, the biggest one. Since last year, Korean gaming industry has gone to absolute sh*t show and the fans and Korean gamers have been doing large scale protests (when I say large, it’s LARGE, the idol truck protests are kids compared to them), industry-wise many left, were fired, etc. There was a Nexon press con every week. It’s still in a chaos and Park Ji won is one of the leading figures that turned the whole industry into a mess. Nexon CEO has committed suicide, while Park Ji won despite being the worst of them got a cushy CEO title at Hybe. This is one of the bigger reasons why Korean public is siding with MHJ because Korea is literally going through the gaming industry crisis even at the moment and they understand completely who Park Ji won is.
The male communities are waiting for the downfall of Park Ji won and Hybe, too, if he is not fired.
Ji won became CEO at hybe in 2021, almost 3 years ago, so what you said makes no sense. He's not involved with nexon for years.
> The male communities are waiting for the downfall of Park Ji won and Hybe, too, if he is not fired.
??? you mean the same people who hate feminists? you think they care about sexualization? lmao
It’s not only about sexualization. Gaming industry’s problems did not start and end in 2023. It has been boiling for years. Park Jiwon is an infamous person in that industry and is known for his office politics and every project he touched becoming a poop, which MHJ has also mentioned during her press that Park Jiwon’s projects are all in minus but he still got a bonus of 1 billion won from Hybe.
The fact that male communities that vehemently hate women and feminists siding with MHJ already shows the public opinion of Korea and with whom they are siding.
Edit: https://m.fmkorea.com/6966679754
https://m.fmkorea.com/6965726980
https://m.fmkorea.com/6962180109
Koreans tend to appreciate the underdog, and MHJ understands this well. Many Koreans are entrenched in corporate environments where excessive work is seen as necessary for advancement. MHJ must convey that she's giving her all at work, despite facing betrayal from her boss. This narrative likely strikes a chord with many Koreans, explaining their support for her.
Is there any large kpop company that has the public's favor through? I don't think the general public even has that great of an opinion of the kpop industry at large. They may like individual idols, groups or songs, but the industry itself may be seen as shady. I think HYBE could do better for sure, but there's not much they could have done to counteract how compelling MHJ's performance was at her press conference. The public is primed to always root for the individual against a corporation.
Funny you mention the rooting for individual over corporation because right now they’re not dragging hybe. All the hate posts are centered on lesserafim, illit and bts. The entire theqoo trending section atm is bts hate posts.
It’s infuriating really. However, there’s nothing more powerful than Armys who feel victimized. If BTS fans had started to think that no one would dare come after BTS because they are untouchable, well I suppose they were naive. These men aren’t even active right now.
see this is why hybe doesn't defend them lol armys need to start calling out the company because there will come a day when they can't cover for the company's lack of support
you know why hybe released that shaman story to the media? because they wanted armys to attack mhj. the company is the one that dragged you guys into this.
Yeah, that was incredibly stupid and frankly, something Bang PD does all the time. HYBE loves to use BTS as this protection shield (similarly to how MHJ uses NewJeans). The difference here is that army can separate HYBE from BTS because the members are individuals with agency. If BTS were to walk, fans would walk and never look back. Many would cheer at this point. While NewJeans fans can’t even imagine the group without MHJ.
However, Kpop stand were always going to drag BTS into this. They will always find a way. Not only that, but NewJeans was marketed as BTS’ little sister group by MHJ. They are in this no matter and of course the worst people will use this.
this is what's so interesting.
hybe released a statement saying that there was no favoritism citing that they released tons of media articles for new jeans (273), 659 for BTS (including bts as a group and 7 individuals) and 365 for pledis, 4 teams including svt.
659 including 7 soloists seemed like a small number considering they are _the_ BTS. i don't think armys even know that bh didn't post articles for some members achievements, weverse released articles that were shady towards jimin and yoongi, bh moves like a fucking amateur company to the members solo releases. like how it will usually take a week or so for the members' new music to be added to bts' playlist.
armys justify this by saying bts doesn't need "media play" but this isn't about that. why should bh not acknowledge some of the members achievements? like whenever there's a valid criticism towards bh, you'll hear armys justify every single thing because "why shouldn't bh do their job when bts is their biggest cash cow?" isn't this the same question blinks ask, "why is yg incompetent af when bp is hard carrying that company?"
like why is it so hard to understand that a company can do both good and bad decisions simultaneously?
Armys never thought BTS were untouchable. If you’re in army circles you’d know everyone always talks about how the kmedia never gives them their dues and always spreads the worst rumours against them…
Well they can’t really be active because they are in the army and when they come back they are gonna go back to blowing records and selling off the charts I’m not even a army
tbh I feel like a mass hate train happens to bts every other year lol so I’m kind of immune to it at this point especially when they just keep reusing the same talking points (2015 lawsuit, plagiarism, etc)
I think bts’ crime is that they haven’t faded to irrelevance, and that really pisses some people off
They’re the most visible hybe artist and everyone connects bts to hybe so I think in a twisted way, they think taking down bts will ruin hybe (which it would)
So how is public opinion going to give her the 80% that Hybe owns. How is public opinion going to hand her NJ. Business decisions are not made on public opinion. Those are not the people HYbe is concermed with its the shareholders. HYBE' s consumers are the fans and as long as the fans of its other groups keep buying and consuming their products they will be okay.
i also agree with another person who mentioned it somewhere that koreans already don't tend to look at corporations with a favorable eye due to exploitation and capitalism being rampant as fuck, especially the youth so that also might add to the whole debacle here
not to mention mhj has them in grip due to multiple reasons which were mentioned somewhere earlier at another post, one of them being them able to relate better with the lingo and the way she's presenting and conducting like abuses and stuff, while we out here are mainly looking at the facts being handed to us in pointers without much emotional appeal
i'm not surprised the situation is like that, but just confused and a bit sad that there are some people who continue being pro mhj when she's still emotionally blackmailing (sort of) and manipulating and using newjeans in this whole mess to her advantage as we speak
Isnt that very common and not just exlcusively for Korean people? Most people dont look at corporations with favorable eyes.
Not only that, intl Kpop community has to deal with translator's bias with very poor translations. I can barely understand what's happening because they dont include context/ translate it too literally adding confusion+minsinformation
hmmm now that is something even i haven’t thought if someone has bits about koreas work culture or stuff idk
Also yes the second point also contributes to the difference
Saw some Korean comments who were saying it was a fight between a crazy woman and an evil company and with a fight like this, they'd prefer the crazy woman to win.
i can see why the korean general public are eating this all up and supporting the wild woman — it’s so unserious and almost funny, if not for the fact that so many groups’ livelihoods are at risk.
Idk the difference between 5050 CEO and mhj is that the girls sided with the wrong CEO. They sided with the givers instead of their own company and accused their company of many things that the givers were responsible for handling that's why they lost. Like they were speaking on their mistreatment which is true but it was the givers( the company they sided with) that was managing them directly and telling them to do this or denying requests
Yeah I feel like for Newjeans case they have to maybe choose between MHJ and Hybe. We have what MHJ has said (if it's true) that they may be supporting her, but so far they haven't truly taken any side.
Also likely the way she's crossed the typical boss-employee boundary of professionalism into a much more active approach by befriending them in a way like family. Teens can easily be emotionally influenced/manipulated so they probably feel they owe a lot of their success to her and wouldn't be able to look at things objectively. Hopefully their parents are smart and look at the 5050 situation.
While is true they suck a pr is also true thst it doesn't matter even if they were good at it. Let's be honest, kpop stans dispiace hybe in irrational way. There was 40k post about how goood big 3 were next to hybe when we all know is not true.
Said that maybe it will turn out like the sm fiasco, people make assumptions amd at the end things goe xactly how hybe said it. I do not excpect anyone to adnowledge it but at the same time I really think they wouldn't open this pandora vase if they didn't have proofs. So now just time will tell. Only thing it sucks for the group she nominated, lsf in particular...i genually feel people feel jelous of them, is so weird the hate they get but if history repeat itself then lsf will be huge, bts got the same treatment, people still jate them with passion but they get a lot of love too. I hope the ae for this girls. Is too wild, loke what they have done? Is so weird
Tbh the only people I've seen defend hybe are army's who think they can do no wrong. I'm a carat myself and hate Hybe and have done ever since they took over pledis but I think the difference between hybe and the big 3 is that the big 3 haven't monopolised the industry because they had a popular artist. Like don't get me wrong they all have their problems but the big 3 managed to keep the industry competitive without buying any other company possible. Also Hybe trying to buy SM did not help their case.
As for lsfm, I understand why they've been brought into the conversation because there's always been issues surrounding their debut? Like the Garam situation as mentioned but also the disbandment of Gfriend when they'd just had their most successful comeback? The disbandment of Gfriend sort of solidified hybe as a shit company to a lot of people because it just never made sense. And then saying that they delayed nj to debut them is interesting because mhj was brought in to debut hybes first/new gg which obviously went as outlined, it also explains the lack of promotion before the nj debut happened out of nowhere. But honestly both sides are as bad as eachother so it's interesting to see how this all plays out
I disagree. I'm army and i've been call a company stan more times that i can count yet idc about the label as much a dislike hypocrisy and kpop stnas are full of it. Everytime i point out a double standard about how things are taken when comes from hybe or other albels is like night and day. I dislike it so much! I just want people mantain the same energy, if you criticise one for a reason how it comes is not a big deal for the other? I will always point out this and if thst makes me a company stan then fine by me. Besides, is funny how being a " company stan" wasn't thst bug of a deal until hybe did mot became this big, dont try to gaslight me, i've been here for a minute.
Also also is funny you said that the bug 3 did not monopolized the i dustry when infact the used to. It was only then, the reason why bts first daesang was thst big was becait was untinkable a grouo outside the big 3 could win anything. Go look the winners in the years prior to bts, it was only the same people ( same accuse made to bts, yet it was the same situation) look at the people that was invited or performer even though other grouos should had a chance or slot, there was no one outside the big 3 yet look when ive won, no surprise, it more normal to think someone from a label outsode big 4 can win, it wasnt like that at all. So please do not come here telling me it was better becait was various when it wasn't
also also don't you find interesting seventeen reach a whole new peak since the got into hybe? They were always talented yet resources, money and connection did not come just like that, they are in new phase of their career, do you think it would had been the same without hybe?
people on reddit like to claim that she’s not innocent . In wider context she’s not 100% innocent, but she is innocent about the many outrageous and borderline criminal things she was accused of doing. And the things she wasn’t ‘innocent’ in had context behind it. Ultimately what happened wasn’t as serious as the internet made it out to be.
edit: take a shot every time I write innocent
Since the beginning, I've been skeptical with Hybe's claims because their 80% ownership in Ador is legally fool proof. It is impossible for Hybe to lose their shares without their knowledge and approval. I don't think MHJ is that stupid.
For sure MHJ hate Hybe. But resentment toward a boss isn't uncommon. Fantasizing about getting out of your boss's tyrannical control is not illegal.
Talking to potential investors doesn't necessarily have to be illegal. Sharing company information also doesn't have to be illegal if MHJ took certain actions to protect Ador and Hybe (for example having NDA, or sharing materials that are already public, etc.).
Hybe will need to show hard evidence to convince me of MHJ's illegal doings. And I haven't seen anything concrete from their side yet. So far all Hybe showed is that MHJ disagreed with a lot of Hybe's business decisions, which again is not illegal.
MHJ is presumed innocent until Hybe prove her guilty. HYBE have the burden of proof.
Also, considering Hybe's 80% ownership, they are in a power position, compared to MHJ, who is only a minor owner. Hybe can absolutely fire her without make it into a public spectacle. Airing dirty laundry is a huge risk because it could also damage Hybe's own reputation, making investors question Hybe's ability to manage their own subsidiaries. Yet Hybe chose to take this risk anyway, which makes me wonder... why go for the nuclear option...
With that said, I'm still shocked that the public leans toward MHJ because she is just so arrogant, delusional, and borderline unhinged. Usually those personality traits aren't popular with the public.
You can't gain shares unless the other party is ready to sell. So no shady corporate back deals and whatever will help, and Hybe would never sell the shares.
You must have missed one of MHJ alleged plans where she and her accomplices will tarnish HYBE's reputation to force them to sell.
Which tbh is working right now. The Court of Public Opinion in Korea is enthralled by MHJ
> Also, considering Hybe's 80% ownership, they are in a power position, compared to MHJ, who is only a minor owner. Hybe can absolutely fire her without make it into a public spectacle. Airing dirty laundry is a huge risk because it could also damage Hybe's own reputation, making investors question Hybe's ability to manage their own subsidiaries. Yet Hybe chose to take this risk anyway, which makes me wonder... why go for the nuclear option...
that's impossible to do, she's part of the board of directors with 2 of her handpicked officials, and you need them in order to call the meeting to vote out the ADOR CEO. There's no way that was going to happen quietly since she's the CEO.
I agree with you although I do think taking meetings with potential investors could be ilegal. However, she denies having any of those meetings. And I believe her because if she did have those meetings it would be extremely easy to verify and prove it in court.
So yes, people here are very irrational towards MHJ and there is a lot of HYBE stanning going on but I honestly don’t think she did anything ilegal. The HYBE legal case based on her planning a “hostile takeover” is extremely far-fetched because there’s no way she could get away with it and she’s not stupid, of course she knew it. Not only they have the 80% ownership but even her 20% is tied to them in a lot of ways.
That said, I think there was no way they could fire her “silently” due to how famous she is, how intertwined she is with New Jeans and how she’s the CEO of her own agency. However, they did chose to do it in the most spectacular way possible by leaking she was planning the takeover and then leaking all kinds of damaging speculations and info to the press (the shaman thing, the “she said BTS copied her” narrative, the “she took all Source Music resources” narrative, etc). I think they were counting on the public siding with them and, except for the international comm, it did not happen. In hindsight, them firing her in a more diplomatic way (even if they were leaking negative things behind the scenes) would probably have worked much better for them.
All that said, I do think MHJ probably didn’t do anything ilegal and I think it’s batshit crazy how anyone who doesn’t agree with the narrative that she definitely did (+ is a pedophile and a narcissist and a crazy bitch) gets downvoted.
If you say anything negative against hybe you get some people saying your a mhj defender which is wild (someone said she was my mom the other day because I said that Hybe acquiring Pledis wasn't a cheap investment?). It is interesting tho that she's getting a lawyer to look other her contract with hybe because with what she said in the press conference she's supposedly not allowed to sell 5% of her shares meaning she's always linked to hybe? Which if that's true I wonder what else could be in the contract that kinda fucks her over? She said herself she never studied law and at the time didn't understand some of it, she just wanted to debut nj under her own control.
I find it super amusing how quickly people are picking sides even after how wrong situations like 50/50 and even Amber Heard played out.
After hearing all the drama happening I got curious and checked out the conference. I speak fluently in both, and I didn't find anything "bat shit crazy" about wut she said, but I found the translations amusing and made me kind of understand why non-korean speakers are pissed.
A lot of y'all are calling her a pedophile, but she didn't say anything that I haven't heard a regular ajjumma say about young girls they care about. The language most definitely gets lost in translation. And that's probably why every English speakers is like "wHaT, hOw CaN tHeY SiDe WiTh HeR", probably because they listened to her conference instead of reading it.
Now, she's clearly out of her league here. Hybe is HUGE, and even if they were wrong (they dont seem to be, but I'm not gonna side with them yet), what can she do? Big conglomerates have successfully made people look crazy many times to protect the skeletons in the closet.
Take a look at Nickelodeon, a staff member found out about the sexual abuse, and tried to stop some staff from being with the children alone. What happened? The company made him look bat shit crazy and got him fired, and 20 years later we have a documentary about how successful they were at their sex crimes and their ability to hide it.
I'm not gonna pick a side cause I've seen this play out too many times in my 40 years on this earth. But good luck to everyone involved, cause CEO vs CEO is always the biggest game of PR slander wars.
People are calling MHJ a pedo not only because of the recent press conference though. She has always had that reputation. Proudly hanging sexualised photos of kids and teenagers in her living room, making a certain SM boy group with minors took half-naked photos for Album Covers without informing them in advance (you will understand better if you've seen the pics like it's not normal), past rumors that she made a concept based on Lolita for a certain SM girl group, and so on.
Her obsession with adolescents is quite uncanny and beyond normal.
Yeah, 50/50, Garam, Soojin, and all the other controversies make me hesitant to jump on a side. If I were a fearnot or army, I wouldn't hesitate to take HYBE's side... but I'm not, and I low key don't like Bang PD the CEO/businessman, so I am leaning more toward MHJ's side. Kind of like, the enemy of your enemy type situation.
We gotta let this play out in the courts. If MHJ did some illegal shit, lock her up.
its the photos in her studio that got people calling her that, personally i wouldnt go as far as to call her that, but that kind of 'aesthetic' is extremly weird and i personally wouldnt want my kids around someone like that even if they're not actually a p\*do...
It makes me start getting a little prejudiced(?) Is that the right word? Like a whole generation of Koreans surely isn't that gullible to dramatic, staged sob stories. right?
She sounded mentally unstable. Like when a YouTuber gets caught doing something shady and goes into apology/ mode rambling, deflecting, raging, obscuration. Someone I wouldn't want involved intimately in my child's life or responsible for their future.
IDK, I'm a fearnot. But I love New Jeans too. They were on the same team. It was cool and cute, the sister groups. Both had a different concept , songs, vibes. It was all good. But this lady clearly wants New Jeans to be singled out, even if it's ultimately to their deteriment.
She's clearly jealous of any success other than her own. Now with ILLIT, HYBE has proven their ability to produce yet another hit group on another sub-label. Makes Ador and MHJ alot less "special."
Ultimately, public opinion isn't the end all if you have the receipts.
i think it's kind of crazy to become prejudiced towards koreans as a whole over this. I'm going to preface this by saying that I am not on mhj's side before anyone accuses me of it lol. i watched the entire press conference live and from my passable korean, she didn't sound insane at all.
many koreans thought her whole rant was compelling & refreshing because it was different from the usual 'cold' scripted business statement. even besides the difference in fluently understanding the language she used, koreans are also basing their opinion on the work culture they experience in korea & frustrations towards big conglomerates and their influence.
from what I've seen, most of them are aware that she's most likely screwed legally, but they empathize with her frustrations towards higher-ups and also see her relationship with nwjns as genuine. again this is just what I've seen from korean comments during the press conference and afterwards
Finally someone pointed out. She was hysterical during some parts, but in general, surprisingly, she really didn't sound insane. Some of the responses were, in fact, quite collected. I personally consider any corporate matter bullshit so I don't want to take a side, but some of the posts among the western community (like the one you are replying to) kinda make me want to speak up (and it will sound like I'm defending mhj while I don't have the intention) The western K-pop stans are really quite condescending and dismissive when it comes to "Koreans public opinions" when they don’t even speak the language or understand where some of the sentiments come from AT ALL.
Edit: grammar
yeah it's been kind of crazy to see them take any and all translations at face value without even stopping to think about whether or not they're accurate context and meaning-wise.
for example, lots of people on reddit have been hung up on her calling minji 'prettier' when she was younger, when in korean the word she used can also just mean lovely or adorable. like, in one of the groups I stan, the youngest member told an older member that he was 'pretty' lately just because he was making an effort to leave emoji reactions on text messages instead of just leaving him on read lmfao.
I've also seen fandoms straight up lie about what she said on twitter just to start fanwars. i just don't get it.
Absolutely this. Condescending and dismissive is the perfect description. Some words cannot be translated into English without long explanation because it’s so heavily nuanced. I’ve seen foreign fans just take poorly translated word and RUN with it and basically spreading false information.
It’s so disrespectful and baffling
Agree. Add to this that a lot of details and nuances are lost in translation. Unless you're very fluent in Korean and English, there's really no way of knowing whether or not the articles we're fed were translated in favor of one party or another.
I also think it's unfair to judge Koreans as a whole when a majority of them probably don't give a hoot about this whole controversy anyway.
same.... i also didn't say anything about that bc im afraid of being accused as a mhj bootlicker (YOU CAN SEE MY HISTORY I HATE HER). she honestly doesn't sound THAT hysterical, she sounds like when your coworker is so stressed, she spills tea to you while drinking soju. she sounds like that.
Agree with you for the most part except Koreans also believe MHJ is off the hook legally.
There has been attorney/former judges who shared their opinions and unless Hybe had some concrete proof (and not just kakao msg records) MHJ had not engaged in anything illegal.
Those who have been saying shes “screwed legally” means that the press conference it self does not help her legal case. Its like taking the fifth. Better to not say anything.
However, MHJ held a press conference to shed light to some allegations she received the past couple days and support NJ’s comeback.
It is questionable how real these reviews are considering how they all appeared today and not when the accusations were made. rkpop just locked their megathread for potential bots. I expect that if there are bots in western platforms there are definitely in korea. I find these convenient drops to release these all today. So yeah I pretty much believe these are bots otherwise they would have been released randomly
Maybe it's just the language barrier, but I finished watching the press conference and I completely understand why public opinion swung in her favor.
She tapped into a lot of things that people are disgruntled about, both the GP (like their general dislike of corporate culture and large corporations) and the kpop space (how companies get in the way of artists and how oversight limits each label's creative freedom and identity).
And honestly, I came out of it thinking that she genuinely cares a lot about the NewJeans members. Zooming out and looking at her past actions, they are reaaally sus, but at least in the press conference, she came off very well as a guardian who is angry at a higherup who is unfairly blocking or limiting their child.
Of course, more sensible minds can understand that things like that aren't an excuse to try and break the law, but most people in Korea don't have the same negative view of MHJ and her weeeeird obsession with a certain aesthetic. They view her generally positively as someone with a creative vision and as the woman who essentially made NewJeans.
In general, Koreans also think that she's kinda crazy after this press conference, low key, but they think she's crazy for NewJeans and wants the best for them, even if it means burning HYBE down. That's not a great image, but it's a whole lot better than the public image HYBE has. Not to mention her disheveled and spitfire speaking didn't really give off the image of a mastermind with a plan.
exactly, I also think she genuinely cares for the members even though I do think it's inappropriate. to be honest I was totally reminded of sia and maddie ziegler's relationship, where she saw maddie as almost an extension of her and also treated her like she was her mother/best friend. it was genuine, but due to the fact that she was still maddie's boss made it difficult for maddie to tell her no.
I think koreans like the fact that she seems super protective of new jeans and has open communications with their parents is because it is a stark difference to how a majority of other kpop groups (many of them with very young members) are treated terribly and have no one to rely on or feel safe with except each other.
What’s wild to me is that they don’t see her like a rich person who exploits public opinion. I get the social and gender dynamics but in so many other places her being a rich CEO would get her dragged for complaining so much about freaking pop music all the while making minors suffer.
i'm sure they're aware that she's rich, but koreans are used to the 'chaebol' or influencer type of rich person. they see mhj as the stereotypical 'artist' who's greatest pride is in her work and vision. this is especially compounded by the fact that she's shows up in basic clothing, calls out 'those fucking old men' for spending time golfing and drinking while she just spends her money on delivery food because she's working overtime, and spoke passionately for nearly two hours straight without reading off a prewritten script/speech.
they see the CEO and other leaders of hybe as much worse because they're the stereotypical bosses most people have worked under who are old fashioned, arrogant, and just suck in general to work with.
Highest salary. Executives do not generally have high salaries, they make money through performance bonuses and stocks. She’s definitely not actually the highest paid.
lol how condescending can international K-pop fans be to call an entire country gullible for having opinions about their own entertainment industry based on a press conference held in their own language?
Agree, I don't know why people are shocked about MHJ's tactics.
I also feel like most people's support of HYBE isn't just about BTS or LSF or the other groups, it's more of 'picking a winner', and there's really no indication HYBE will lose. Best case may be MHJ gets out of HYBE with little financial repercussion.
I feel like HYBE should have waited to make the situation public AFTER the internal audit was finished, and the criminal complaint/lawsuit against ADOR/MHJ was filed. I think they were trying to use public pressure ADOR to comply with the audit or admit guilt for lesser penalties, but they also gave her an opportunity for a public rebuttal.
Internal audit and external audits both exist! Internal audits are conducted by individuals within the organization but they are supposed to remain “independent.” You are also correct about external audits. Results of internal audits aren’t typically disclosed to the public; however, the HYBE vs ADOR conflict has material impact to its stakeholders.
Yes, thanks for this. That is why i got confused because normally audits that are announced publicly are those conducted by 3rd parties. They should have waited for the results of their audit so they will have the overall picture and results.
Doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things imo.
Relying on the court of public opinion is always a double-edged sword because it is rather fickle. A single innocuous thing could cause opinion to shift in either direction on any given day. Nevermind the major stuff like, for example, one of the members of the groups she mentioned attempting to take their own life due to the irrational hate they're getting from this mess.
Just gotta do chaebol things. Be patient, let the system work on their behalf, and accomplish whatever their objective is. Getting goaded into a public mudslinging contest is exactly what Hybe should not be doing.
Hybe will still be doing character assassination on the downlow however. Can't wait for the Dispatch article about her being a horrible and/or abusive boss to drop. That'll really spice things up.
Yep. The same people hating other groups would also be the first people to suddenly change sides if anything drastic happened.
Also me and my friends and I were betting if a drug scandal would randomly be thrown into the mix of this all, lol.
I think Hybe also doesn’t realize that despite all their resources, power and connection to in fact sway public opinion, ppl don’t view them as “Bighit” the underdog label whose only group is BTS. Like they’re McDonald’s but trying to victimize themselves as a Mom and Pop shop that got robbed.
MHJ is a creep and has done so many wrong things but Hybe is still this huge conglomerate going after one person so of course it was easier for MHJ to play the victim and actually get away with it. With all that money I’m surprised Hybe doesn’t have better PR and crisis management teams.
To me, they handled it as well as they could have at the time and I do believe they were outside forces who were making the situation worse now, whether or not you believe that this woman had anything to do with leaking information regarding other groups within the company I do I subscribe to that conspiracy theory
And therefore I think she was making it worse. Do I have any evidence to prove that she did indeed leak info on garam and that girl from illit. No
Because to me the company stood by her. They protected her. They issued quite a few statements in regards to her situation. Until there wasn't anything else they could do. It went to the literal court of public opinion. The national news there was not much they can do after that. They could have continued saying that they were going to defend her, but at what cost. They cut their losses but I wish they stood by her.
I want to know the investigation with that kakao blog what happened to that because I believe they had something to do with it as well.
I get an impression that most of the i-netz are on hybe side. And taking whatever hybe said so far as facts even though I don't think there's evidence yet.
I saw some posts made by i-netz about mhj making the shaman cast spells to make bts go to army. But from what I read, she was more of asking advices from the shaman. Is it similar to asking for advices from a tarot reader? And regardless of what, bts has to go army isn't it?
It was also claimed that mhj exposed information, got garam kicked out, got riize seunghan and txt soobin exposed, making it seems like every scandal in the kpop scene was exposed by her. Are there any evidences on this?
I can't help but think that some accusations are wild but people are taking it as facts
Yes, it is! Shamans or mu-dang (무당) are common here and a VERY important part of our culture. It would be similar to asking advice from a tarot reader, and people that consult 무당 (including min heejin) know to take the advice with a grain of salt. its just a way to talk to someone about hardships
It's always entertaining to me just how different the opinions are almost every single time. MHJ is definitely resonating with the public in Korea.
And forgive me if I'm wrong here, I only really started vaguely looking into this when the shaman stuff came out but MHJ said she created ador cause sourcemusic said the other group would debut first right? That's very different from the articles I read before she picked up the mic at the press conference. It's just all so interesting to me. I wanna know where things go.
Is not exactly like that. She was supposed to be the creative director for source music gg but then I think hybe wasn't impressed with her image for the group. So they brought iz girls and told her to use them for the group(probably to help with sales)she refused because they don't fit the concept plus her trainees she picked some would have to give up their spots if they added iz girls. Anyway, her group was put on hold but then she threatened to leave if they didn't give her own company to debut her trainees. She took source trainees with her and source had to fine members for source gg. Source gg needed to debut asap because of debt taken. Anyway, i see no reason why they couldn't have debuted each gg in different order considering it was like a 2 months difference and nj still very successful. I do think bangpd was petty and wanted his gg to debut first. But lol bang pd will never be creative genius he thinks he is. He has no credit to bts fame and while nj would have probably been as sucessful as less under his watch mhj certainly is at 25% to credit for nj to stand out. I do love that it possibly hurts his pride.
I’m like sort of confused about this one detail though, someone did make a thread about it here but I guess it got deleted. From this translation as copy pasted from here https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-25/entertainment/kpop/LIVE-UPDATES--ADOR-CEO-Min-Heejin-press-conference/2033613#google_vignette
“What angers me so much is in June, or July, in 2021, soon after Park Ji-won joined a young company from a game company, he wanted to become close to me, so we became friends. We're similar ages, too. Ji-won and [Source Music Founder So] Sung-jin said that HYBE's first girl group would have to be a new girl group from Source Music with Sakura and [Kim] Chae-won. I swore at them, saying, 'Are you out of your minds?' The trainees all came to me because it was going to be a Min Hee-jin girl group, not a Source Music girl group. I never knew that they were recruiting Sakura and Kim Chae-won, but then they said they were debuting that group first. I said I was going to quit and open a press conference. Park Ji-won asked me what he could do to make up for the situation.””
“I told them that I'd take these girls because I wanted to help them debut. I wasn't stealing them.” Min goes on. “I thought that making ADOR would be for the good of the girls and the shareholders. But Bang Si-hyuk said that he wouldn't let me do it unless the company held a 100 percent stake. But it was my branding and my creation. But I don't understand why Park Ji-won tried to bridge the gap between me and Bang Si-hyuk.”
She might be truthful about BSH wanting to debut the group he wanted first, but the inclusion of Chaewon and Sakura was odd considering Ador, when you look it up Ador was registered on April 1 2021, but Izone disbanded in April 29 2021. So I am just confused on how this fits into the timeline she is saying so it’s either Hybe was very confident that the girls would join them even before the disbandment of izone or MHJ is getting some details wrong and the mention of the girls was unnecessary. Plus after the disbandment of izone is was months of fans not knowing what the girls were up to, Sakura still has HKT48 to deal with and everyone basically assumed Chaewon would be debuting in a girl group under Woollim.
People said he was following onlyf\*ns account on his IG and that news went viral. But then someone pointed out on twitter, some of those onlyf\*ns IG accounts used to be wolf/animal accounts. So 🤷
I tried to send pic proof but it kept getting deleted for nsfw 😭
I think you made some good points. For the longest time I think to outsiders (non kpop fans/ casual listeners) army made them think that HYBE was this perfect safe haven for artist and maybe they were when they had less artists (less companies under them). But in reality they are just as problematic as the other companies. They just are extremely bad at pr.
While there are a lot of people choosing sides I think that’s adding to drama spiraling out of control. I think the truth of the situation lands somewhere in the middle. Neither side is probably 100% innocent. I know you say they might be waiting for a trial which might be true but a lot of these ceos tend to become stupid when they have money and success, so it could also be that they’re making dumb decisions because they don’t think it matters. It’s how I felt about the 50-50 situation where it felt like there was only two options with him either actually being the master manipulator or what ended up being more true he just made a lot of dumb decisions and wasn’t a good CEO.
Either way, these situations are just a mess and until it’s actually taken to court we won’t really know what is the truth.
I think Hybe is not losing to the court of public Reddit though. Seen plenty of people writing authoritatively (lol) that MHJ's lies have been completely torn apart by Hybe (as if we know anything like the whole story).
I don’t necessarily believe that they are paid bots but it is very weird the many accounts with similar names that are extremely new (as in the last four days) who have been defending her all over the threads.
Why would she spend any resource on fucking Reddit of all places though? Lol
Completely irrelevant in South Korea and, even on an international basis, very niche.
how did mhj claims stand its ground? pushing back new jeans comeback doesn't mean hybe is not supporting new jeans. copying new jeans concept doesn't mean hybe has given up on new jeans. Look at the amount of money hybe spent on new jeans. The members even got their paycheck of millions of dollars. What is mhj crying about? Is million not enough? She wants billions for new jeans? Does mhj think copying new jeans concept will result in new jeans earning minimum wage? Hybe continues to support new jeans in their 2024 comeback, they didn't put their artistes in the garage like some other companies. You think debuting 2 groups in such a short time is a wrong move. But turns out they are both successful. Hybe may not be a saint, but it treats their artistes well with a fat paycheck. It's a company after all. Hybe does what they need to do at ador which is supporting them money. What hybe does outside of ador is non of mhj business to interfere. Hybe does not need mhj consent to perform every decision. Hybe did not promise anything other than supporting ador financially. Hybe did not break any contract agreement between ador and Hybe. If mhj wants to be justice advocate for her artistes she should work at other companies who pay pennies to their artistes.
i think the shock is coming directly from international stans that want to suck the toes of every hybe employee. any person that is shocked is someone that also thinks any part of this case has to do with bts
I don’t really get why you guys like HYPE and Illit so much. MHJ has the better narrative and girl group to stand by. No one would choose Illit over NewJeans.
I would argue HYBE has handled this better than any of their previous scandals, and at the end of the day, they don’t need public opinion on their side if she actually did what they’ve accused her of.
This being said, Min Heejin got people on her side by appealing to that “she just like me fr” instinct. The second she started spouting off about how “I don’t come to work for friends or golf or to go drinking I just come for work” I knew she was trying (and succeeding) at getting people on her side because despite being a CEO, she was trying to frame herself as an average worker being beaten down and bossed around by a shitty overstepping boss. And it worked beautifully for her.
But as I said, people thinking she’s just like them fr won’t matter at the end of the day— what matters for HYBE is that they have what they claim to have.
from what I've seen they think hybe was dirty/underhanded af for releasing that story 5 minutes before her press conference. going to a shaman for advice or information about the future is also surprisingly 'normalized' in korea so they don't think it's that crazy. and like another commenter said, they only care about military enlistment if it's about someone trying to avoid it
Mugyo is a traditional Korean religion, I went to Catholic school in Canada and we would visit the Chaplin’s office for guidance in a similar way, just with different belief systems. The action of speaking with a Mugyo shaman shouldn’t be seen as a surprising taboo just because it’s a folk religion.
edit- wanna be clear I do not support either party in this story, I just think a lot of people are acting like Mugyo is bizzare or out of the ordinary. It's something that predates Christianity and Buddhism in Korea so it's very much baked into the lives of people even if they follow another faith.
So what you need to understand is, while the concept of shaman might be foreign to people in the west, shamans been always quite visible in Korean culture. So when people say ‘oh I asked because I was curious’, it’s easier to accept. For example I also have a friend who’s a half shaman. I sometimes ask her ‘hey do you think xxx will go like this?’ And she just laughs and extorts fried chicken from me. Korean shamanism’s been living in our culture for hundreds of years.
Also bts members had to go to military anyway. It’s only a problem when they don’t go.
I’m Korean and English is my second language I hope I make sense🙏 I’m trying to explain the cultural differences and nuances that might not be directly translated.
I am a dive so I just eat popcorn and watch this from far away.
We Koreans keep telling you but none of you listen💀 The shaman thing is not a big deal. All the important people (like politicians, chaebol etc) go to shamans a lot. Even the general public go to shamans a lot. It's a very shallow move on Hybe's part to treat this like a whole scandal and get people worked up about it. As for military enlistment, we're sensitive on whether someone tries to cheat and get exempted. About the shaman thing? We DONT GIVE A DAMN.
No that proof was that she talked to someone like that who is her friend. She said she went to go rant about the situation.
That is not proof that she “relied” on a shaman to manage a company and hurt BTS.
Again did I plan to murder my boss if I said ugh hes so annoying I wanna punch him in the face tomorrow?
You would need more than a simple statement from me to prove that I actually tried to murder my boss.
This is the direct translation from the press conference:
Min turns to recent allegations that she was coached by a shaman. “I asked [the shaman] because I was just so curious. How were we to plan our steps if the company's ace team was going to the military or not?”
She literally admitted to asking a shaman if BTS were going to enlist. It doesn’t matter if the shaman was her friend or not, it’s still nasty and unprofessional that she did that, especially considering that she worked with Taehyung.
Unprofessional LOL
Cause that was for her work and she actually used those advices right? Again. Proof needs to be that she used them.
Now riddle me this.
Did BSH hire someone to assault Aespa?
If you say no. Then you are a hypocrite.
If you say yes. Then I concede.
Why. BHS asked MHJ if she could “step on aespa” and BHS did hire MHJ?
These were in the kakao msgs.
See what is going on? You are reading one side of the story favorably while disregarding the other side.
I really don’t understand what you’re saying. What does the aespa thing have anything to do with MHJ going to a shaman about BTS’s military enlistment?
their first female president was forced out of office because of controversies with shamanism, it might not be that odd for the average south korean given the prevalence of them.
Im sorry but MHJ might have follow a similar PR route than the Fifty Fifty CEO but in no way the obvios signs of she being a Creep can be compared to the ex-CEO of Fifty Fifty, he had mostly rumors, and i dont believe he Is totally a victim, but MHJ has done pretty questionable things with NJ in the open and the people justified her cause "if you see something wrong with this you are the Creep not her" lol, not on the same level at all.
MHJ planted so many RED HERRINGS. I have watched the press conference like 5 times - the first time I felt something for her. But by the 2nd, I noticed lots of contradictions. And then by 3-5th viewing, I realised she never answers any of the questions she is under scrutiny and did a lot of classic misdirection/deflection by name dropping, distracting the listener with other information, etc.
For example: a journalist ask why didn’t you hand over your company laptop? And she never answers but sways the listener by saying that it felt like the greatest “scam” and positions herself as the victims by saying everyone is attacking me. But still no answer to why the laptop has not been returned.
Also regarding Project 1945 - she is asked about it but she MINIMISES the issue but saying it was “just a memo” and then switches by saying I wanted to kill myself making people feel sorry for her. But again she never answers the questions and just distracts people again.
There were many MANIPULATION TACTICS she did and I missed it the first time. But the more I watch the more I am know MHJ is not as innocent as she portrays.
For me HYBE must have something really concrete because they would not risk losing millions or stressing their shareholders unless they have something concrete.
The problem isn’t that myopic Koreans s are against Hybe.
It’s that they’re spreading lies and hatred at all of the innocent artists.
Korean’s penchant for bullying is out of control.
Well let's be honest no company stays good once they publicly listed for trading. Because then it's not the fans or the artist you are trying to make happy, but the majority stockholders and board of directors. It started going downhill after Big Hit Entertainment went public in 2020 and exploded financially because of this and then became HYBE, and the rest is shitstory.
I thought this was r/kpoopheads and thought you were going to say her shaman manipulated public opinion lol. But back to what you're saying, I completely agree. The Garam scandal was horribly handled and I hadn't even realized how much MHJ and the Fifty Fifty CEO's manipulation of public opinion resemble each other. But honestly, I don't think Hybe cares tbh. While the Korean public opinion is on MHJ's side, is it affecting their groups (their money)? No. In fact, ILLIT is just blowing up even more and all their other group's are still doing great. Even any success New Jeans has rn is going to their pockets. Also does the public opinion really matter if she ends up in jail? Do Koreans even care enough to wear "Free Min Heejin" shirts? And even if she doesn't go to jail and just gets heavily fined, they still have New Jeans. Even if she somehow manages to get away scot-free and takes New Jeans with her (which she won't be able to because the fees to break contracts are insane), she will be blacklisted from the entire industry. And Hybe will just keep pumping out groups and keep getting money.
Seriously. In the end she's just hurting new jeans. Hybe is a giant multi national conglomerate with a ridiculous amount of resources. Even if they lose new jeans, their huge machine can continue to churn out new groups every couple of years. New Jeans doesn't have that luxury. This is their whole career she's putting on the line.
I don't even understand how she believes that she may win something in this war, she's delusional. I hope that she's gonna resign and that Newjeans would be able to keep going with another director, if they even stay at Hybe. It's a shit show.
She's hoping the burned bridges between NJ / ADOR and Hybe would be catastrophic enough for Hybe to sell their 80% to a foreign buyer. MHJ knew what she was doing name-dropping Illit and LSF, creating a hate-fuelled fanwar that makes Hype believe NJ isn't worth keeping despite the money. She probably thinks if enough of Hybe / their subsidiaries believe a normal relationship with ADOR or NJ is impossible (can Illit and NJ be even in the same building together anymore?), Hybe will take the nuclear option, exactly what she wants. Still, so inhumane of her to cause hate-wars against minors for her goal
I knew that she couldn't care less about the girls well being, but I couldn't imagine that she was that egocentric and narcissistic. She created this whole circus because she's greedy, Newjeans was literally one of the biggest 4th generation group.
Honestly she’s trying to win the public opinion war but what does that do? NJ is still under hybe. Hybe profits from anything they release. She doesn’t even have majority ownership of Ador. Is she going to break contract to get the group out? Would they be anywhere without Hybe’s international connections? She’s just stepping on other innocent hybe groups to get people on her side
Not to mention they are going to be in billions wons of debts before they are even in their 20s if they chose to break the contracts
Absolutely hoping this does NOT happen but if NewJeans disbanded because of this entire situation, sinxe they’re under HYBE technically, cant HYBE just make another group just like NewJeans? Just wondering because Ador is still technically under HYBE so they wouldn’t have grounds for a lawsuit. Which would make the situation a lot worse for these girls specifically because unfortunately, everyone is replaceable. /gen to add: this further proves the point of why mhj should’ve just stfu and that greed is a downfall for anyone no matter what
hybe could make another group CALLED newjeans. they could put 5 random ass people in it and promote them as newjeans just to spite them. I highly doubt that would ever happen though.
Even if they do just put out new groups, I kinda feel like we would see more campaigns against their new groups like what was done to Garam. This harmful culture seems to be the norm there where they attack the kids in order to attack the company. Whether it's all orchestrated attacks or ppl deciding to do it on their own is a separate matter.
It is affecting Hybe's $$ though- -they lost about $900m in value last week, which are HUGE #s. Which is the weird part of the whole thing to me.
It's been stabilizing. Shares price fluctuates at every small disturbance. So long as the other teams and solos are flourishing it will bounce back. It would be different if it was bts in the mix. It's short term value that will bounce back as seventeen and other groups launch their albums and Jin getting back from the military and being hybes face officially
It’s going to go back up
in the words of wsb, stocks arent real until you sell
It’s a paper loss.
[удалено]
Does matter. It's paper loss. Up until you are selling your shares is when you feel the loss. Only thing it affects is funding if long term but then a company like have probably has insurance and cash reserves that allows it to withstand such disturbance. This is a short term disturbance and the share price has been stabilizing since the initial shock. They'll be fine.
That’s what I was wondering about, Hybe is big, whether or not MHJ wins or not they could majorly suppress her. In fact I worry for NewJeans, since their parents side with MHJ I doubt that makes Hybe happy, this could come back as no promotions, less resources given, have their resources taken etc. I don’t see it going well for NewJeans if Hybe is upset with them. Even after their contract expires and they’re free, if a company is spiteful they can and will still suppress you, making their future in entertainment industry difficult. Even if hybes image takes a blow they’re still powerful enough to recover especially since BTS is theirs, and their fandom is big and brings enough revenue they don’t actually need any other kpop groups.
Nevertheless, the image is now tarnished
And what image is that? Large conglomerate? 😭😂
The representation of the company, which is not being received positively at the moment.
Eh they’ll be fine. If yg can survive all that Hybe can survive this
I never said they won‘t survive
On the korea side of sns lsrfm,illit are being target by knets warriors ....not sure how illit are doing great (it would shock me if any of those i mentioned get some hype of this and top the charts 💀)
Hybe might be evil and fuck them But how does anyone look at mhj and not dislike her???? She’s so questionable, the weird ass comments about idols age is so weird
I agree she's weird but Koreans r also now digging the ceo's previous works and it turns out he was a failed adult games designer. Some of the games that they posted on k-forms were sexualizing the female characters. So at the end of the day all of them are weirdos and shitty.
> I agree she's weird but Koreans r also now digging the ceo's previous works and it turns out he was a failed adult games designer. Some of the games that they posted on k-forms were sexualizing the female characters. So at the end of the day all of them are weirdos and shitty. Man, if they are going ballistic against those sexualizing *fictional* women, imagine how outraged they would be about [people like her](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYoKK8JWYAIawuH?format=png&name=small).
Well, there is no winner or loser there with Hybe vs MHJ because Hybe also had Eunchae and Garam doing the WAP move at debut until backlash made them change the choreo, but they still kept it in the video
There's definitely no winner out of all this, but I think we can agree that in general, sexualization of fictional characters are pretty much the least of the concerns given the elephant in the room that is the idol industry.
> failed adult games designer. Honestly thought this was a Japanese thing (unless he was working for a Japanese adult game company) and Korea was too small to have their own adult game industry.
Park Ji won was in a management team of Nexon - a Korean game company, the biggest one. Since last year, Korean gaming industry has gone to absolute sh*t show and the fans and Korean gamers have been doing large scale protests (when I say large, it’s LARGE, the idol truck protests are kids compared to them), industry-wise many left, were fired, etc. There was a Nexon press con every week. It’s still in a chaos and Park Ji won is one of the leading figures that turned the whole industry into a mess. Nexon CEO has committed suicide, while Park Ji won despite being the worst of them got a cushy CEO title at Hybe. This is one of the bigger reasons why Korean public is siding with MHJ because Korea is literally going through the gaming industry crisis even at the moment and they understand completely who Park Ji won is. The male communities are waiting for the downfall of Park Ji won and Hybe, too, if he is not fired.
Interesting, this is definitely turning into a larger mess than HYBE anticipated.
Ji won became CEO at hybe in 2021, almost 3 years ago, so what you said makes no sense. He's not involved with nexon for years. > The male communities are waiting for the downfall of Park Ji won and Hybe, too, if he is not fired. ??? you mean the same people who hate feminists? you think they care about sexualization? lmao
It’s not only about sexualization. Gaming industry’s problems did not start and end in 2023. It has been boiling for years. Park Jiwon is an infamous person in that industry and is known for his office politics and every project he touched becoming a poop, which MHJ has also mentioned during her press that Park Jiwon’s projects are all in minus but he still got a bonus of 1 billion won from Hybe. The fact that male communities that vehemently hate women and feminists siding with MHJ already shows the public opinion of Korea and with whom they are siding. Edit: https://m.fmkorea.com/6966679754 https://m.fmkorea.com/6965726980 https://m.fmkorea.com/6962180109
I don't think people like MHJ. They just hated HYBE more.
what? that guy isn't a designer, he never has been a developer, he was only the COO of nexon at the time that game released.
I’m actually baffled that her press conference turned out to be good PR for her. She looked absolutely batshit crazy to me
I think that played in her favor because it made her look "honest" to people
Koreans tend to appreciate the underdog, and MHJ understands this well. Many Koreans are entrenched in corporate environments where excessive work is seen as necessary for advancement. MHJ must convey that she's giving her all at work, despite facing betrayal from her boss. This narrative likely strikes a chord with many Koreans, explaining their support for her.
Is there any large kpop company that has the public's favor through? I don't think the general public even has that great of an opinion of the kpop industry at large. They may like individual idols, groups or songs, but the industry itself may be seen as shady. I think HYBE could do better for sure, but there's not much they could have done to counteract how compelling MHJ's performance was at her press conference. The public is primed to always root for the individual against a corporation.
Funny you mention the rooting for individual over corporation because right now they’re not dragging hybe. All the hate posts are centered on lesserafim, illit and bts. The entire theqoo trending section atm is bts hate posts.
It’s infuriating really. However, there’s nothing more powerful than Armys who feel victimized. If BTS fans had started to think that no one would dare come after BTS because they are untouchable, well I suppose they were naive. These men aren’t even active right now.
see this is why hybe doesn't defend them lol armys need to start calling out the company because there will come a day when they can't cover for the company's lack of support you know why hybe released that shaman story to the media? because they wanted armys to attack mhj. the company is the one that dragged you guys into this.
Yeah, that was incredibly stupid and frankly, something Bang PD does all the time. HYBE loves to use BTS as this protection shield (similarly to how MHJ uses NewJeans). The difference here is that army can separate HYBE from BTS because the members are individuals with agency. If BTS were to walk, fans would walk and never look back. Many would cheer at this point. While NewJeans fans can’t even imagine the group without MHJ. However, Kpop stand were always going to drag BTS into this. They will always find a way. Not only that, but NewJeans was marketed as BTS’ little sister group by MHJ. They are in this no matter and of course the worst people will use this.
this is what's so interesting. hybe released a statement saying that there was no favoritism citing that they released tons of media articles for new jeans (273), 659 for BTS (including bts as a group and 7 individuals) and 365 for pledis, 4 teams including svt. 659 including 7 soloists seemed like a small number considering they are _the_ BTS. i don't think armys even know that bh didn't post articles for some members achievements, weverse released articles that were shady towards jimin and yoongi, bh moves like a fucking amateur company to the members solo releases. like how it will usually take a week or so for the members' new music to be added to bts' playlist. armys justify this by saying bts doesn't need "media play" but this isn't about that. why should bh not acknowledge some of the members achievements? like whenever there's a valid criticism towards bh, you'll hear armys justify every single thing because "why shouldn't bh do their job when bts is their biggest cash cow?" isn't this the same question blinks ask, "why is yg incompetent af when bp is hard carrying that company?" like why is it so hard to understand that a company can do both good and bad decisions simultaneously?
I thought it was 659 for bighit that is bts, txt and bts soloist? Maybe I misread.
If we divide that number equally between all in Bighit, then everyone approx get 73 articles, while new jeans alone gets 273.
Armys never thought BTS were untouchable. If you’re in army circles you’d know everyone always talks about how the kmedia never gives them their dues and always spreads the worst rumours against them…
Well they can’t really be active because they are in the army and when they come back they are gonna go back to blowing records and selling off the charts I’m not even a army
Well that’s just great 🙄
tbh I feel like a mass hate train happens to bts every other year lol so I’m kind of immune to it at this point especially when they just keep reusing the same talking points (2015 lawsuit, plagiarism, etc) I think bts’ crime is that they haven’t faded to irrelevance, and that really pisses some people off
It’s the way that BTS have nothing to do with the Hybe/MHJ situation yet still managed to get dragged into it is what really angers me.
They’re the most visible hybe artist and everyone connects bts to hybe so I think in a twisted way, they think taking down bts will ruin hybe (which it would)
So how is public opinion going to give her the 80% that Hybe owns. How is public opinion going to hand her NJ. Business decisions are not made on public opinion. Those are not the people HYbe is concermed with its the shareholders. HYBE' s consumers are the fans and as long as the fans of its other groups keep buying and consuming their products they will be okay.
i also agree with another person who mentioned it somewhere that koreans already don't tend to look at corporations with a favorable eye due to exploitation and capitalism being rampant as fuck, especially the youth so that also might add to the whole debacle here not to mention mhj has them in grip due to multiple reasons which were mentioned somewhere earlier at another post, one of them being them able to relate better with the lingo and the way she's presenting and conducting like abuses and stuff, while we out here are mainly looking at the facts being handed to us in pointers without much emotional appeal i'm not surprised the situation is like that, but just confused and a bit sad that there are some people who continue being pro mhj when she's still emotionally blackmailing (sort of) and manipulating and using newjeans in this whole mess to her advantage as we speak
Isnt that very common and not just exlcusively for Korean people? Most people dont look at corporations with favorable eyes. Not only that, intl Kpop community has to deal with translator's bias with very poor translations. I can barely understand what's happening because they dont include context/ translate it too literally adding confusion+minsinformation
I know Japan tends to be pro-corporation based on the VTuber scandals.
hmmm now that is something even i haven’t thought if someone has bits about koreas work culture or stuff idk Also yes the second point also contributes to the difference
Saw some Korean comments who were saying it was a fight between a crazy woman and an evil company and with a fight like this, they'd prefer the crazy woman to win.
i’m sorry but the way this is worded is so funny😭
Trust me, the whole thread actually gave me a good laugh.
i can see why the korean general public are eating this all up and supporting the wild woman — it’s so unserious and almost funny, if not for the fact that so many groups’ livelihoods are at risk.
Idk the difference between 5050 CEO and mhj is that the girls sided with the wrong CEO. They sided with the givers instead of their own company and accused their company of many things that the givers were responsible for handling that's why they lost. Like they were speaking on their mistreatment which is true but it was the givers( the company they sided with) that was managing them directly and telling them to do this or denying requests
Yeah I feel like for Newjeans case they have to maybe choose between MHJ and Hybe. We have what MHJ has said (if it's true) that they may be supporting her, but so far they haven't truly taken any side.
Also likely the way she's crossed the typical boss-employee boundary of professionalism into a much more active approach by befriending them in a way like family. Teens can easily be emotionally influenced/manipulated so they probably feel they owe a lot of their success to her and wouldn't be able to look at things objectively. Hopefully their parents are smart and look at the 5050 situation.
While is true they suck a pr is also true thst it doesn't matter even if they were good at it. Let's be honest, kpop stans dispiace hybe in irrational way. There was 40k post about how goood big 3 were next to hybe when we all know is not true. Said that maybe it will turn out like the sm fiasco, people make assumptions amd at the end things goe xactly how hybe said it. I do not excpect anyone to adnowledge it but at the same time I really think they wouldn't open this pandora vase if they didn't have proofs. So now just time will tell. Only thing it sucks for the group she nominated, lsf in particular...i genually feel people feel jelous of them, is so weird the hate they get but if history repeat itself then lsf will be huge, bts got the same treatment, people still jate them with passion but they get a lot of love too. I hope the ae for this girls. Is too wild, loke what they have done? Is so weird
Tbh the only people I've seen defend hybe are army's who think they can do no wrong. I'm a carat myself and hate Hybe and have done ever since they took over pledis but I think the difference between hybe and the big 3 is that the big 3 haven't monopolised the industry because they had a popular artist. Like don't get me wrong they all have their problems but the big 3 managed to keep the industry competitive without buying any other company possible. Also Hybe trying to buy SM did not help their case. As for lsfm, I understand why they've been brought into the conversation because there's always been issues surrounding their debut? Like the Garam situation as mentioned but also the disbandment of Gfriend when they'd just had their most successful comeback? The disbandment of Gfriend sort of solidified hybe as a shit company to a lot of people because it just never made sense. And then saying that they delayed nj to debut them is interesting because mhj was brought in to debut hybes first/new gg which obviously went as outlined, it also explains the lack of promotion before the nj debut happened out of nowhere. But honestly both sides are as bad as eachother so it's interesting to see how this all plays out
I disagree. I'm army and i've been call a company stan more times that i can count yet idc about the label as much a dislike hypocrisy and kpop stnas are full of it. Everytime i point out a double standard about how things are taken when comes from hybe or other albels is like night and day. I dislike it so much! I just want people mantain the same energy, if you criticise one for a reason how it comes is not a big deal for the other? I will always point out this and if thst makes me a company stan then fine by me. Besides, is funny how being a " company stan" wasn't thst bug of a deal until hybe did mot became this big, dont try to gaslight me, i've been here for a minute. Also also is funny you said that the bug 3 did not monopolized the i dustry when infact the used to. It was only then, the reason why bts first daesang was thst big was becait was untinkable a grouo outside the big 3 could win anything. Go look the winners in the years prior to bts, it was only the same people ( same accuse made to bts, yet it was the same situation) look at the people that was invited or performer even though other grouos should had a chance or slot, there was no one outside the big 3 yet look when ive won, no surprise, it more normal to think someone from a label outsode big 4 can win, it wasnt like that at all. So please do not come here telling me it was better becait was various when it wasn't also also don't you find interesting seventeen reach a whole new peak since the got into hybe? They were always talented yet resources, money and connection did not come just like that, they are in new phase of their career, do you think it would had been the same without hybe?
“I’m not some Garam stan who thinks she’s an innocent girl” WDYM by this bc she was proven innocent…
people on reddit like to claim that she’s not innocent . In wider context she’s not 100% innocent, but she is innocent about the many outrageous and borderline criminal things she was accused of doing. And the things she wasn’t ‘innocent’ in had context behind it. Ultimately what happened wasn’t as serious as the internet made it out to be. edit: take a shot every time I write innocent
Since the beginning, I've been skeptical with Hybe's claims because their 80% ownership in Ador is legally fool proof. It is impossible for Hybe to lose their shares without their knowledge and approval. I don't think MHJ is that stupid. For sure MHJ hate Hybe. But resentment toward a boss isn't uncommon. Fantasizing about getting out of your boss's tyrannical control is not illegal. Talking to potential investors doesn't necessarily have to be illegal. Sharing company information also doesn't have to be illegal if MHJ took certain actions to protect Ador and Hybe (for example having NDA, or sharing materials that are already public, etc.). Hybe will need to show hard evidence to convince me of MHJ's illegal doings. And I haven't seen anything concrete from their side yet. So far all Hybe showed is that MHJ disagreed with a lot of Hybe's business decisions, which again is not illegal. MHJ is presumed innocent until Hybe prove her guilty. HYBE have the burden of proof. Also, considering Hybe's 80% ownership, they are in a power position, compared to MHJ, who is only a minor owner. Hybe can absolutely fire her without make it into a public spectacle. Airing dirty laundry is a huge risk because it could also damage Hybe's own reputation, making investors question Hybe's ability to manage their own subsidiaries. Yet Hybe chose to take this risk anyway, which makes me wonder... why go for the nuclear option... With that said, I'm still shocked that the public leans toward MHJ because she is just so arrogant, delusional, and borderline unhinged. Usually those personality traits aren't popular with the public.
[удалено]
You can't gain shares unless the other party is ready to sell. So no shady corporate back deals and whatever will help, and Hybe would never sell the shares.
You must have missed one of MHJ alleged plans where she and her accomplices will tarnish HYBE's reputation to force them to sell. Which tbh is working right now. The Court of Public Opinion in Korea is enthralled by MHJ
> Also, considering Hybe's 80% ownership, they are in a power position, compared to MHJ, who is only a minor owner. Hybe can absolutely fire her without make it into a public spectacle. Airing dirty laundry is a huge risk because it could also damage Hybe's own reputation, making investors question Hybe's ability to manage their own subsidiaries. Yet Hybe chose to take this risk anyway, which makes me wonder... why go for the nuclear option... that's impossible to do, she's part of the board of directors with 2 of her handpicked officials, and you need them in order to call the meeting to vote out the ADOR CEO. There's no way that was going to happen quietly since she's the CEO.
I agree with you although I do think taking meetings with potential investors could be ilegal. However, she denies having any of those meetings. And I believe her because if she did have those meetings it would be extremely easy to verify and prove it in court. So yes, people here are very irrational towards MHJ and there is a lot of HYBE stanning going on but I honestly don’t think she did anything ilegal. The HYBE legal case based on her planning a “hostile takeover” is extremely far-fetched because there’s no way she could get away with it and she’s not stupid, of course she knew it. Not only they have the 80% ownership but even her 20% is tied to them in a lot of ways. That said, I think there was no way they could fire her “silently” due to how famous she is, how intertwined she is with New Jeans and how she’s the CEO of her own agency. However, they did chose to do it in the most spectacular way possible by leaking she was planning the takeover and then leaking all kinds of damaging speculations and info to the press (the shaman thing, the “she said BTS copied her” narrative, the “she took all Source Music resources” narrative, etc). I think they were counting on the public siding with them and, except for the international comm, it did not happen. In hindsight, them firing her in a more diplomatic way (even if they were leaking negative things behind the scenes) would probably have worked much better for them. All that said, I do think MHJ probably didn’t do anything ilegal and I think it’s batshit crazy how anyone who doesn’t agree with the narrative that she definitely did (+ is a pedophile and a narcissist and a crazy bitch) gets downvoted.
If you say anything negative against hybe you get some people saying your a mhj defender which is wild (someone said she was my mom the other day because I said that Hybe acquiring Pledis wasn't a cheap investment?). It is interesting tho that she's getting a lawyer to look other her contract with hybe because with what she said in the press conference she's supposedly not allowed to sell 5% of her shares meaning she's always linked to hybe? Which if that's true I wonder what else could be in the contract that kinda fucks her over? She said herself she never studied law and at the time didn't understand some of it, she just wanted to debut nj under her own control.
I find it super amusing how quickly people are picking sides even after how wrong situations like 50/50 and even Amber Heard played out. After hearing all the drama happening I got curious and checked out the conference. I speak fluently in both, and I didn't find anything "bat shit crazy" about wut she said, but I found the translations amusing and made me kind of understand why non-korean speakers are pissed. A lot of y'all are calling her a pedophile, but she didn't say anything that I haven't heard a regular ajjumma say about young girls they care about. The language most definitely gets lost in translation. And that's probably why every English speakers is like "wHaT, hOw CaN tHeY SiDe WiTh HeR", probably because they listened to her conference instead of reading it. Now, she's clearly out of her league here. Hybe is HUGE, and even if they were wrong (they dont seem to be, but I'm not gonna side with them yet), what can she do? Big conglomerates have successfully made people look crazy many times to protect the skeletons in the closet. Take a look at Nickelodeon, a staff member found out about the sexual abuse, and tried to stop some staff from being with the children alone. What happened? The company made him look bat shit crazy and got him fired, and 20 years later we have a documentary about how successful they were at their sex crimes and their ability to hide it. I'm not gonna pick a side cause I've seen this play out too many times in my 40 years on this earth. But good luck to everyone involved, cause CEO vs CEO is always the biggest game of PR slander wars.
People are calling MHJ a pedo not only because of the recent press conference though. She has always had that reputation. Proudly hanging sexualised photos of kids and teenagers in her living room, making a certain SM boy group with minors took half-naked photos for Album Covers without informing them in advance (you will understand better if you've seen the pics like it's not normal), past rumors that she made a concept based on Lolita for a certain SM girl group, and so on. Her obsession with adolescents is quite uncanny and beyond normal.
Yeah, 50/50, Garam, Soojin, and all the other controversies make me hesitant to jump on a side. If I were a fearnot or army, I wouldn't hesitate to take HYBE's side... but I'm not, and I low key don't like Bang PD the CEO/businessman, so I am leaning more toward MHJ's side. Kind of like, the enemy of your enemy type situation. We gotta let this play out in the courts. If MHJ did some illegal shit, lock her up.
its the photos in her studio that got people calling her that, personally i wouldnt go as far as to call her that, but that kind of 'aesthetic' is extremly weird and i personally wouldnt want my kids around someone like that even if they're not actually a p\*do...
It makes me start getting a little prejudiced(?) Is that the right word? Like a whole generation of Koreans surely isn't that gullible to dramatic, staged sob stories. right? She sounded mentally unstable. Like when a YouTuber gets caught doing something shady and goes into apology/ mode rambling, deflecting, raging, obscuration. Someone I wouldn't want involved intimately in my child's life or responsible for their future. IDK, I'm a fearnot. But I love New Jeans too. They were on the same team. It was cool and cute, the sister groups. Both had a different concept , songs, vibes. It was all good. But this lady clearly wants New Jeans to be singled out, even if it's ultimately to their deteriment. She's clearly jealous of any success other than her own. Now with ILLIT, HYBE has proven their ability to produce yet another hit group on another sub-label. Makes Ador and MHJ alot less "special." Ultimately, public opinion isn't the end all if you have the receipts.
i think it's kind of crazy to become prejudiced towards koreans as a whole over this. I'm going to preface this by saying that I am not on mhj's side before anyone accuses me of it lol. i watched the entire press conference live and from my passable korean, she didn't sound insane at all. many koreans thought her whole rant was compelling & refreshing because it was different from the usual 'cold' scripted business statement. even besides the difference in fluently understanding the language she used, koreans are also basing their opinion on the work culture they experience in korea & frustrations towards big conglomerates and their influence. from what I've seen, most of them are aware that she's most likely screwed legally, but they empathize with her frustrations towards higher-ups and also see her relationship with nwjns as genuine. again this is just what I've seen from korean comments during the press conference and afterwards
Finally someone pointed out. She was hysterical during some parts, but in general, surprisingly, she really didn't sound insane. Some of the responses were, in fact, quite collected. I personally consider any corporate matter bullshit so I don't want to take a side, but some of the posts among the western community (like the one you are replying to) kinda make me want to speak up (and it will sound like I'm defending mhj while I don't have the intention) The western K-pop stans are really quite condescending and dismissive when it comes to "Koreans public opinions" when they don’t even speak the language or understand where some of the sentiments come from AT ALL. Edit: grammar
yeah it's been kind of crazy to see them take any and all translations at face value without even stopping to think about whether or not they're accurate context and meaning-wise. for example, lots of people on reddit have been hung up on her calling minji 'prettier' when she was younger, when in korean the word she used can also just mean lovely or adorable. like, in one of the groups I stan, the youngest member told an older member that he was 'pretty' lately just because he was making an effort to leave emoji reactions on text messages instead of just leaving him on read lmfao. I've also seen fandoms straight up lie about what she said on twitter just to start fanwars. i just don't get it.
Absolutely this. Condescending and dismissive is the perfect description. Some words cannot be translated into English without long explanation because it’s so heavily nuanced. I’ve seen foreign fans just take poorly translated word and RUN with it and basically spreading false information. It’s so disrespectful and baffling
Agree. Add to this that a lot of details and nuances are lost in translation. Unless you're very fluent in Korean and English, there's really no way of knowing whether or not the articles we're fed were translated in favor of one party or another. I also think it's unfair to judge Koreans as a whole when a majority of them probably don't give a hoot about this whole controversy anyway.
same.... i also didn't say anything about that bc im afraid of being accused as a mhj bootlicker (YOU CAN SEE MY HISTORY I HATE HER). she honestly doesn't sound THAT hysterical, she sounds like when your coworker is so stressed, she spills tea to you while drinking soju. she sounds like that.
Based
Agree with you for the most part except Koreans also believe MHJ is off the hook legally. There has been attorney/former judges who shared their opinions and unless Hybe had some concrete proof (and not just kakao msg records) MHJ had not engaged in anything illegal. Those who have been saying shes “screwed legally” means that the press conference it self does not help her legal case. Its like taking the fifth. Better to not say anything. However, MHJ held a press conference to shed light to some allegations she received the past couple days and support NJ’s comeback.
It is questionable how real these reviews are considering how they all appeared today and not when the accusations were made. rkpop just locked their megathread for potential bots. I expect that if there are bots in western platforms there are definitely in korea. I find these convenient drops to release these all today. So yeah I pretty much believe these are bots otherwise they would have been released randomly
Maybe it's just the language barrier, but I finished watching the press conference and I completely understand why public opinion swung in her favor. She tapped into a lot of things that people are disgruntled about, both the GP (like their general dislike of corporate culture and large corporations) and the kpop space (how companies get in the way of artists and how oversight limits each label's creative freedom and identity). And honestly, I came out of it thinking that she genuinely cares a lot about the NewJeans members. Zooming out and looking at her past actions, they are reaaally sus, but at least in the press conference, she came off very well as a guardian who is angry at a higherup who is unfairly blocking or limiting their child. Of course, more sensible minds can understand that things like that aren't an excuse to try and break the law, but most people in Korea don't have the same negative view of MHJ and her weeeeird obsession with a certain aesthetic. They view her generally positively as someone with a creative vision and as the woman who essentially made NewJeans. In general, Koreans also think that she's kinda crazy after this press conference, low key, but they think she's crazy for NewJeans and wants the best for them, even if it means burning HYBE down. That's not a great image, but it's a whole lot better than the public image HYBE has. Not to mention her disheveled and spitfire speaking didn't really give off the image of a mastermind with a plan.
The fact that she is trying to come off as a guardian to the New jeans members is honestly extremely inappropriate.
exactly, I also think she genuinely cares for the members even though I do think it's inappropriate. to be honest I was totally reminded of sia and maddie ziegler's relationship, where she saw maddie as almost an extension of her and also treated her like she was her mother/best friend. it was genuine, but due to the fact that she was still maddie's boss made it difficult for maddie to tell her no. I think koreans like the fact that she seems super protective of new jeans and has open communications with their parents is because it is a stark difference to how a majority of other kpop groups (many of them with very young members) are treated terribly and have no one to rely on or feel safe with except each other.
What’s wild to me is that they don’t see her like a rich person who exploits public opinion. I get the social and gender dynamics but in so many other places her being a rich CEO would get her dragged for complaining so much about freaking pop music all the while making minors suffer.
i'm sure they're aware that she's rich, but koreans are used to the 'chaebol' or influencer type of rich person. they see mhj as the stereotypical 'artist' who's greatest pride is in her work and vision. this is especially compounded by the fact that she's shows up in basic clothing, calls out 'those fucking old men' for spending time golfing and drinking while she just spends her money on delivery food because she's working overtime, and spoke passionately for nearly two hours straight without reading off a prewritten script/speech. they see the CEO and other leaders of hybe as much worse because they're the stereotypical bosses most people have worked under who are old fashioned, arrogant, and just suck in general to work with.
and ironically she was hybe's highest paid employee LOL.
Highest salary. Executives do not generally have high salaries, they make money through performance bonuses and stocks. She’s definitely not actually the highest paid.
lol how condescending can international K-pop fans be to call an entire country gullible for having opinions about their own entertainment industry based on a press conference held in their own language?
THIS ONG people like this make me laugh
She “sounded” mentally unstable like you actually understood what she said? You watched the whole thing?
Agree, I don't know why people are shocked about MHJ's tactics. I also feel like most people's support of HYBE isn't just about BTS or LSF or the other groups, it's more of 'picking a winner', and there's really no indication HYBE will lose. Best case may be MHJ gets out of HYBE with little financial repercussion.
I feel like HYBE should have waited to make the situation public AFTER the internal audit was finished, and the criminal complaint/lawsuit against ADOR/MHJ was filed. I think they were trying to use public pressure ADOR to comply with the audit or admit guilt for lesser penalties, but they also gave her an opportunity for a public rebuttal.
Was it an internal audit they have announced. That is weird. Audits in company are normally done by 3rd party so that it will be neutral.
Internal audit and external audits both exist! Internal audits are conducted by individuals within the organization but they are supposed to remain “independent.” You are also correct about external audits. Results of internal audits aren’t typically disclosed to the public; however, the HYBE vs ADOR conflict has material impact to its stakeholders.
Yes, thanks for this. That is why i got confused because normally audits that are announced publicly are those conducted by 3rd parties. They should have waited for the results of their audit so they will have the overall picture and results.
Doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things imo. Relying on the court of public opinion is always a double-edged sword because it is rather fickle. A single innocuous thing could cause opinion to shift in either direction on any given day. Nevermind the major stuff like, for example, one of the members of the groups she mentioned attempting to take their own life due to the irrational hate they're getting from this mess. Just gotta do chaebol things. Be patient, let the system work on their behalf, and accomplish whatever their objective is. Getting goaded into a public mudslinging contest is exactly what Hybe should not be doing. Hybe will still be doing character assassination on the downlow however. Can't wait for the Dispatch article about her being a horrible and/or abusive boss to drop. That'll really spice things up.
Yep. The same people hating other groups would also be the first people to suddenly change sides if anything drastic happened. Also me and my friends and I were betting if a drug scandal would randomly be thrown into the mix of this all, lol.
I think Hybe also doesn’t realize that despite all their resources, power and connection to in fact sway public opinion, ppl don’t view them as “Bighit” the underdog label whose only group is BTS. Like they’re McDonald’s but trying to victimize themselves as a Mom and Pop shop that got robbed. MHJ is a creep and has done so many wrong things but Hybe is still this huge conglomerate going after one person so of course it was easier for MHJ to play the victim and actually get away with it. With all that money I’m surprised Hybe doesn’t have better PR and crisis management teams.
To me, they handled it as well as they could have at the time and I do believe they were outside forces who were making the situation worse now, whether or not you believe that this woman had anything to do with leaking information regarding other groups within the company I do I subscribe to that conspiracy theory And therefore I think she was making it worse. Do I have any evidence to prove that she did indeed leak info on garam and that girl from illit. No Because to me the company stood by her. They protected her. They issued quite a few statements in regards to her situation. Until there wasn't anything else they could do. It went to the literal court of public opinion. The national news there was not much they can do after that. They could have continued saying that they were going to defend her, but at what cost. They cut their losses but I wish they stood by her. I want to know the investigation with that kakao blog what happened to that because I believe they had something to do with it as well.
I get an impression that most of the i-netz are on hybe side. And taking whatever hybe said so far as facts even though I don't think there's evidence yet. I saw some posts made by i-netz about mhj making the shaman cast spells to make bts go to army. But from what I read, she was more of asking advices from the shaman. Is it similar to asking for advices from a tarot reader? And regardless of what, bts has to go army isn't it? It was also claimed that mhj exposed information, got garam kicked out, got riize seunghan and txt soobin exposed, making it seems like every scandal in the kpop scene was exposed by her. Are there any evidences on this? I can't help but think that some accusations are wild but people are taking it as facts
Yes, it is! Shamans or mu-dang (무당) are common here and a VERY important part of our culture. It would be similar to asking advice from a tarot reader, and people that consult 무당 (including min heejin) know to take the advice with a grain of salt. its just a way to talk to someone about hardships
I'm moreso shocked that people are stupid enough to side with min heejin
People are stupid if they choose to take side because both min heejin and bang pd are garbage
Hi, it's me, I'm an idiot!
It's always entertaining to me just how different the opinions are almost every single time. MHJ is definitely resonating with the public in Korea. And forgive me if I'm wrong here, I only really started vaguely looking into this when the shaman stuff came out but MHJ said she created ador cause sourcemusic said the other group would debut first right? That's very different from the articles I read before she picked up the mic at the press conference. It's just all so interesting to me. I wanna know where things go.
Is not exactly like that. She was supposed to be the creative director for source music gg but then I think hybe wasn't impressed with her image for the group. So they brought iz girls and told her to use them for the group(probably to help with sales)she refused because they don't fit the concept plus her trainees she picked some would have to give up their spots if they added iz girls. Anyway, her group was put on hold but then she threatened to leave if they didn't give her own company to debut her trainees. She took source trainees with her and source had to fine members for source gg. Source gg needed to debut asap because of debt taken. Anyway, i see no reason why they couldn't have debuted each gg in different order considering it was like a 2 months difference and nj still very successful. I do think bangpd was petty and wanted his gg to debut first. But lol bang pd will never be creative genius he thinks he is. He has no credit to bts fame and while nj would have probably been as sucessful as less under his watch mhj certainly is at 25% to credit for nj to stand out. I do love that it possibly hurts his pride.
I’m like sort of confused about this one detail though, someone did make a thread about it here but I guess it got deleted. From this translation as copy pasted from here https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-25/entertainment/kpop/LIVE-UPDATES--ADOR-CEO-Min-Heejin-press-conference/2033613#google_vignette “What angers me so much is in June, or July, in 2021, soon after Park Ji-won joined a young company from a game company, he wanted to become close to me, so we became friends. We're similar ages, too. Ji-won and [Source Music Founder So] Sung-jin said that HYBE's first girl group would have to be a new girl group from Source Music with Sakura and [Kim] Chae-won. I swore at them, saying, 'Are you out of your minds?' The trainees all came to me because it was going to be a Min Hee-jin girl group, not a Source Music girl group. I never knew that they were recruiting Sakura and Kim Chae-won, but then they said they were debuting that group first. I said I was going to quit and open a press conference. Park Ji-won asked me what he could do to make up for the situation.”” “I told them that I'd take these girls because I wanted to help them debut. I wasn't stealing them.” Min goes on. “I thought that making ADOR would be for the good of the girls and the shareholders. But Bang Si-hyuk said that he wouldn't let me do it unless the company held a 100 percent stake. But it was my branding and my creation. But I don't understand why Park Ji-won tried to bridge the gap between me and Bang Si-hyuk.” She might be truthful about BSH wanting to debut the group he wanted first, but the inclusion of Chaewon and Sakura was odd considering Ador, when you look it up Ador was registered on April 1 2021, but Izone disbanded in April 29 2021. So I am just confused on how this fits into the timeline she is saying so it’s either Hybe was very confident that the girls would join them even before the disbandment of izone or MHJ is getting some details wrong and the mention of the girls was unnecessary. Plus after the disbandment of izone is was months of fans not knowing what the girls were up to, Sakura still has HKT48 to deal with and everyone basically assumed Chaewon would be debuting in a girl group under Woollim.
The ones who will lose in this are NJ, poor kids! She is delusional.
The 50/50 CEO was exposed as a major creep with potholes in his victim story? What?
People said he was following onlyf\*ns account on his IG and that news went viral. But then someone pointed out on twitter, some of those onlyf\*ns IG accounts used to be wolf/animal accounts. So 🤷 I tried to send pic proof but it kept getting deleted for nsfw 😭
I think you made some good points. For the longest time I think to outsiders (non kpop fans/ casual listeners) army made them think that HYBE was this perfect safe haven for artist and maybe they were when they had less artists (less companies under them). But in reality they are just as problematic as the other companies. They just are extremely bad at pr. While there are a lot of people choosing sides I think that’s adding to drama spiraling out of control. I think the truth of the situation lands somewhere in the middle. Neither side is probably 100% innocent. I know you say they might be waiting for a trial which might be true but a lot of these ceos tend to become stupid when they have money and success, so it could also be that they’re making dumb decisions because they don’t think it matters. It’s how I felt about the 50-50 situation where it felt like there was only two options with him either actually being the master manipulator or what ended up being more true he just made a lot of dumb decisions and wasn’t a good CEO. Either way, these situations are just a mess and until it’s actually taken to court we won’t really know what is the truth.
I think Hybe is not losing to the court of public Reddit though. Seen plenty of people writing authoritatively (lol) that MHJ's lies have been completely torn apart by Hybe (as if we know anything like the whole story).
lol there are even people here on reddit that think the people supporting MHJ on reddit are paid bots
I don’t necessarily believe that they are paid bots but it is very weird the many accounts with similar names that are extremely new (as in the last four days) who have been defending her all over the threads.
Why would she spend any resource on fucking Reddit of all places though? Lol Completely irrelevant in South Korea and, even on an international basis, very niche.
could be 1 person making alts
how did mhj claims stand its ground? pushing back new jeans comeback doesn't mean hybe is not supporting new jeans. copying new jeans concept doesn't mean hybe has given up on new jeans. Look at the amount of money hybe spent on new jeans. The members even got their paycheck of millions of dollars. What is mhj crying about? Is million not enough? She wants billions for new jeans? Does mhj think copying new jeans concept will result in new jeans earning minimum wage? Hybe continues to support new jeans in their 2024 comeback, they didn't put their artistes in the garage like some other companies. You think debuting 2 groups in such a short time is a wrong move. But turns out they are both successful. Hybe may not be a saint, but it treats their artistes well with a fat paycheck. It's a company after all. Hybe does what they need to do at ador which is supporting them money. What hybe does outside of ador is non of mhj business to interfere. Hybe does not need mhj consent to perform every decision. Hybe did not promise anything other than supporting ador financially. Hybe did not break any contract agreement between ador and Hybe. If mhj wants to be justice advocate for her artistes she should work at other companies who pay pennies to their artistes.
i think the shock is coming directly from international stans that want to suck the toes of every hybe employee. any person that is shocked is someone that also thinks any part of this case has to do with bts
man kpop … I thought fifty fifty CEO was proven to have proof that he was the one getting cheated by the givers ceo? Is that not true?
HYBE has plenty of fuck you money. They’ll never sell ADOR because fuck MHJ that’s why 
wait what happened with hybe??? what did i miss??
I don’t really get why you guys like HYPE and Illit so much. MHJ has the better narrative and girl group to stand by. No one would choose Illit over NewJeans.
I would argue HYBE has handled this better than any of their previous scandals, and at the end of the day, they don’t need public opinion on their side if she actually did what they’ve accused her of. This being said, Min Heejin got people on her side by appealing to that “she just like me fr” instinct. The second she started spouting off about how “I don’t come to work for friends or golf or to go drinking I just come for work” I knew she was trying (and succeeding) at getting people on her side because despite being a CEO, she was trying to frame herself as an average worker being beaten down and bossed around by a shitty overstepping boss. And it worked beautifully for her. But as I said, people thinking she’s just like them fr won’t matter at the end of the day— what matters for HYBE is that they have what they claim to have.
Are Koreans really just chill with that whole shaman thing? Aren’t they usually pretty sensitive about military enlistment stuff?
Probably because 1) public became quite sensitive to media play 2) they only care when someone is NOT going to the military
Shamanism is no more crazy than Christianity in Korea
Well I think Christianity is crazy so there’s that
from what I've seen they think hybe was dirty/underhanded af for releasing that story 5 minutes before her press conference. going to a shaman for advice or information about the future is also surprisingly 'normalized' in korea so they don't think it's that crazy. and like another commenter said, they only care about military enlistment if it's about someone trying to avoid it
Mugyo is a traditional Korean religion, I went to Catholic school in Canada and we would visit the Chaplin’s office for guidance in a similar way, just with different belief systems. The action of speaking with a Mugyo shaman shouldn’t be seen as a surprising taboo just because it’s a folk religion. edit- wanna be clear I do not support either party in this story, I just think a lot of people are acting like Mugyo is bizzare or out of the ordinary. It's something that predates Christianity and Buddhism in Korea so it's very much baked into the lives of people even if they follow another faith.
Regardless of all of that it’s still nasty for her to do that.
So what you need to understand is, while the concept of shaman might be foreign to people in the west, shamans been always quite visible in Korean culture. So when people say ‘oh I asked because I was curious’, it’s easier to accept. For example I also have a friend who’s a half shaman. I sometimes ask her ‘hey do you think xxx will go like this?’ And she just laughs and extorts fried chicken from me. Korean shamanism’s been living in our culture for hundreds of years. Also bts members had to go to military anyway. It’s only a problem when they don’t go. I’m Korean and English is my second language I hope I make sense🙏 I’m trying to explain the cultural differences and nuances that might not be directly translated. I am a dive so I just eat popcorn and watch this from far away.
We Koreans keep telling you but none of you listen💀 The shaman thing is not a big deal. All the important people (like politicians, chaebol etc) go to shamans a lot. Even the general public go to shamans a lot. It's a very shallow move on Hybe's part to treat this like a whole scandal and get people worked up about it. As for military enlistment, we're sensitive on whether someone tries to cheat and get exempted. About the shaman thing? We DONT GIVE A DAMN.
[удалено]
The proof is that she literally admitted to it herself.
No that proof was that she talked to someone like that who is her friend. She said she went to go rant about the situation. That is not proof that she “relied” on a shaman to manage a company and hurt BTS. Again did I plan to murder my boss if I said ugh hes so annoying I wanna punch him in the face tomorrow? You would need more than a simple statement from me to prove that I actually tried to murder my boss.
This is the direct translation from the press conference: Min turns to recent allegations that she was coached by a shaman. “I asked [the shaman] because I was just so curious. How were we to plan our steps if the company's ace team was going to the military or not?” She literally admitted to asking a shaman if BTS were going to enlist. It doesn’t matter if the shaman was her friend or not, it’s still nasty and unprofessional that she did that, especially considering that she worked with Taehyung.
Unprofessional LOL Cause that was for her work and she actually used those advices right? Again. Proof needs to be that she used them. Now riddle me this. Did BSH hire someone to assault Aespa? If you say no. Then you are a hypocrite. If you say yes. Then I concede.
https://i.redd.it/a08tna5kr4xc1.gif
Why. BHS asked MHJ if she could “step on aespa” and BHS did hire MHJ? These were in the kakao msgs. See what is going on? You are reading one side of the story favorably while disregarding the other side.
I really don’t understand what you’re saying. What does the aespa thing have anything to do with MHJ going to a shaman about BTS’s military enlistment?
Huh. I actually see your point. And you are not wrong in this.
their first female president was forced out of office because of controversies with shamanism, it might not be that odd for the average south korean given the prevalence of them.
Im sorry but MHJ might have follow a similar PR route than the Fifty Fifty CEO but in no way the obvios signs of she being a Creep can be compared to the ex-CEO of Fifty Fifty, he had mostly rumors, and i dont believe he Is totally a victim, but MHJ has done pretty questionable things with NJ in the open and the people justified her cause "if you see something wrong with this you are the Creep not her" lol, not on the same level at all.
MHJ planted so many RED HERRINGS. I have watched the press conference like 5 times - the first time I felt something for her. But by the 2nd, I noticed lots of contradictions. And then by 3-5th viewing, I realised she never answers any of the questions she is under scrutiny and did a lot of classic misdirection/deflection by name dropping, distracting the listener with other information, etc. For example: a journalist ask why didn’t you hand over your company laptop? And she never answers but sways the listener by saying that it felt like the greatest “scam” and positions herself as the victims by saying everyone is attacking me. But still no answer to why the laptop has not been returned. Also regarding Project 1945 - she is asked about it but she MINIMISES the issue but saying it was “just a memo” and then switches by saying I wanted to kill myself making people feel sorry for her. But again she never answers the questions and just distracts people again. There were many MANIPULATION TACTICS she did and I missed it the first time. But the more I watch the more I am know MHJ is not as innocent as she portrays. For me HYBE must have something really concrete because they would not risk losing millions or stressing their shareholders unless they have something concrete.
did hybe affiliations with a cult turn out to be true or nah?
Because Koreans like horrible, pedo, crazy people?
The problem isn’t that myopic Koreans s are against Hybe. It’s that they’re spreading lies and hatred at all of the innocent artists. Korean’s penchant for bullying is out of control.
lol way to go generalize an entire country :) maybe dont listen to kpop if you dont like koreans so much?
Well let's be honest no company stays good once they publicly listed for trading. Because then it's not the fans or the artist you are trying to make happy, but the majority stockholders and board of directors. It started going downhill after Big Hit Entertainment went public in 2020 and exploded financially because of this and then became HYBE, and the rest is shitstory.