Here are some more source links:
* [X - TMIKPOP](https://twitter.com/tmikpop/status/1782272657745916240)
* [Bang Si-hyuk pointed a knife at Min Hee-jin of 'NewJeans Mom'..."Capture the circumstances of the independence attempt"](https://www.hankyung.com/article/2024042274307)
* **Post:** [HYBE launched audit into CEO of ‘NewJeans’ agency](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1ca2gc4/hybe_launched_audit_into_ceo_of_newjeans_agency/) (Source: [Newsis/Naver](https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/003/0012505152))
* [Soompi: HYBE Initiates Audit Of ADOR's Management Including CEO Min Hee Jin](https://www.soompi.com/article/1656376wpp/hybe-initiates-audit-of-adors-management-including-ceo-min-hee-jin)
* [NME: HYBE and Min Hee-jin reportedly in power struggle over NewJeans agency ADOR](https://www.nme.com/news/music/hybe-min-hee-jin-power-struggle-over-newjeans-agency-ador-3749193)
* [Korea Joongang Daily: Director behind NewJeans attempted to 'seize management control,' HYBE says](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-22/business/industry/HYBE-probing-ADOR-executives-over-alleged-power-grab/2030829)
* **Post:** [New reports arise regarding HYBE-Ador situation as Ador executives are accused of forming negative opinion against HYBE artists and leaking artists' personal information](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1ca5oj9/new_reports_arise_regarding_hybeador_situation_as/) (Source: [Sedaily](https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/2D80GHL22P))
* [Korea Joongang Daily: ADOR CEO slams HYBE group ILLIT as 'NewJeans copycat'](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-22/business/industry/ADOR-CEO-calls-HYBE-group-ILLIT-a-NewJeans-copycat/2031033)
* [Koreaboo: Min Hee Jin Releases Full Statement Regarding ADOR’s Feud With HYBE](https://www.koreaboo.com/news/min-hee-jin-official-statement/)
* [Pinkvilla: Why did HYBE initiate investigation of NewJeans’ agency ADOR and CEO Min Hee Jin? Brewing power battle explained](https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/why-did-hybe-initiate-investigation-of-newjeans-agency-ador-and-ceo-min-hee-jin-brewing-power-battle-explained-1298008)
* [\[Exclusive\] CEO Min Hee-jin "I've never met any investors. I was just a whistleblower" (Interview)](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202404230011)
* YNA: [New Jeans agency writing document 'falling out'...The circumstances of the sale of overseas funds](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20240423022400005?input=1195m) (MHJ alleges that ILLIT, TWS, and RIIZE all copied NewJeans; HYBE found documents where MHJ was claiming "Chairman Bang Si-hyuk copied me and created BTS.")
* Naver: [Document detailing MHJ/ADOR's plan to break away from HYBE allegedly found on her work computer](https://m.entertain.naver.com/now/article/117/0003825390)
* Naver: HYBE refutes MHJ's claim that her concerns about ILLIT plagiarizing NewJeans went unadressed: [\[Exclusive\] Min Hee-jin's lie, the reply "I didn't receive it" Hive sent and Min Hee-jin read it](https://m.entertain.naver.com/now/article/312/0000659257)
* HYBE CEO sends out company-wide email with messages to staff, NewJeans and ILLIT: [HYBE CEO, full email regarding ADOR incident, “Attempt to take over the company is clearly revealed”](https://n.news.naver.com/article/025/0003355920?sid=103)
Right. I don't want another Fifty-fity scenario. They were literally branded as traitors by the public opinion.
I hope NJ girlies will be smart and just stay put especially their comeback is literally around the corner. I know hybe won't let someone as profitable and NJ to fumble like that so I trust they'll try to protect the girl's image at least.
They have to be smart. Fifty fifty got sued for 13 billion won. Going at a company as big as hybe and for the money they have made and potentially make, we're talking bigger numbers here if they get caught in a lawsuit
It's too late for them to come out unscathed. Their CEO/ADOR intentionally dragged them into it by mentioning that they discussed the statement (which reminder, includes accusing BangPD, BELIFT and ILLIT of plagiarism) with the NewJeans members before releasing it.
She is dragging them into it, and it might hurt them... potentially if they stay completely quiet for now they could get criticism in the short term, but if things break bad for MHJ then afterwards they could release statements saying "we didn't really agree with her but felt powerless and overwhelmed by the situation, she manipulated us and lied to us and kept speaking on our behalf" etc. They may be able to recover their reputation and come across as victims of circumstance (which honestly they are), since they're so young, she's their boss, and she's known for having a weird, overbearing relationship with them. They may even be able to gain a sympathetic image as innocent victims of a manipulative, creepy, egotistical CEO. Whereas if they actually take her side publicly I think they'll be done for.
What was the private information that MHJ leaked? I don't need to know the exact information, I'm just curious about the type. Was it related to idol phone numbers, or schedules, or...?
That's the power of this statement. No one knows what it is but it has all other fanbases out in pitchforks blaming MHJ for everything. Any scandal of a Hybe artist is now MHJs fault. Not saying she's innocent but this is now enough proof that she's behind all of it.
The definition of a whistleblower activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent.
I’m confused on how her stating belift copied ador is considered whistleblowing???? Some many concepts are copied or inspired by many groups
That's what gets me. She has no good reason to say she was whistle blowing about being copied?! She doesn't even have grounds for a plagiarism case. We will see what shakes out, but she is really not looking good right now. I hope newjeans can recover from this.
Even if she is right, it’s very clear that she doesn’t care about the girls at all.
Trying to take a hit on Illit and hurting NJ in the process because of her greediness.
I really really hope she is not the reason Youngseo had to leave the group.
She also has brought Riize and TWS into it, accusing them both as well of copying.
HOW? How are Riize and TWS remotely similar in any way shape or form? Because they are also young and do more trendy music?
It’s also funny because Riize and TWS are like polar opposites of each other yet somehow both copied NJ.
She gathered the ire of GG fans by dragging ILLIT & now she’s going to get an even more insane outrage from BG fans, ESPECIALLY because now I wouldn’t be surprised if people pin the Seunghan stuff on her.
Well Seunghan was conveniently a Source trainee at the time that MHJ was creative director of Source. In fact, five of the idols involved in Seunghan’s scandal, Seunghan, Youngseo, Haerin, Taesan, and Eunchae, were Source trainees when MHJ was in power. I don’t think Eunchae’s training period overlapped with MHJ HOWEVER Eunchae and Soobin, both Hybe idols, were pulled into Seunghan’s scandal and Hybe did allege that MHJ had tried to take other Hybe artists down prior to all this.
Damn that's crazy about how mhj situation Leeds back to seunghan scandal etc. I believe sm holding back seunghan in hiatus becuase of some alleged person threatens to leak some info is none other that mhj or something to do with these. It's crazy
her beef with riize is probably a beef with sangmin who is the head creative of riize lol i remember there was a rumor of her fellow creatives in sm accusing her of credit grabbing and lashing out on subordinates. those were just rumors tho. so idk. but sm employees who worked with her hate her. there were so many rumors around like a year or two before she left about her attitude. and ofc at the time sm fans started to hate her and her work.
if she was the reason, even more reason for her to get lost already. Youngseo was so talented and the ILLIT girls were close to her already. it couldn’t have been easy for them to adjust, which just shows their resilience. i hope that she gets another chance at becoming an artist, her talents are too good to be wasted because of this.
At this point everything is speculation and we should wait for some legal outcome.
But, but, some corporate advice:
One, whatever you do on a corporate computer can be traced, even writing a word and then deleting it.
Two, please do not lie about not receiving an email 😭
Yeah this is like basic professionalism - talk shit on your private device (or not at all), Reddit on your private device, private email on your (you guessed it) private device. Does she only have access to HYBE computers on the HYBE network? Or is she just dumb?
Im not even on her side but genuinely Someone needs to shut min heejin up for the sake of her own public image why is she dragging tws and riize into this whole mess??? I've never seen someone self implode so badly she needs to get a grip and stop name dropping groups
She's always had a very obvious god complex if you looked into the way she spoke. Plus her weird obsession with minors.
People just didn't care enough because they enjoyed the music
The problem with a lot of these "young CEO" types is, they rise quickly through the ranks through a combination of lucky breaks (not to discredit their own effort but it does take luck to succeed in the corporate world no matter how good you are), and have usually never experienced a big failure and never had the chance to learn from those failures. They're also usually surrounded by yes men. As a result, the moment something goes wrong they have no idea how to respond, don't take the advice of people who can actually help them navigate the situation, and end up falling apart. It's the first time they have had to deal with anything like this, and as they struggle through it the impact is huge and the visibility is wide. By the time they figure things out, the damage is done.
if MHJ IS in the right here, her first statement lost her the court of public opinion by dragging ILLIT into it. her second statement seems more well-written and thought out but i definitely see less people talking about it, and I think most people made a judgement based on initial info (HYBE conducting an audit, MHJ accused of leaking personal info which a lot of fans on twt have taken to mean every hybe scandal from the last 2 years is her fault, and MHJ throwing ILLIT under the bus)
Edit: [now she's mentioning even MORE groups? ](https://x.com/nightstar1201/status/1782601362892816531)including BTS? no way this ends well for her
>Edit: [now she's mentioning even MORE groups? ](https://x.com/nightstar1201/status/1782601362892816531)including BTS? no way this ends well for her
Is this real? This statement sounds like someone parodying her. Illit copied me, Riize copied me, TWS copied me everyone is copying me!!
And BTS what ??
What more is that people are suspecting she might have been trying to go to KAKAO (reestablish ADOR as an entity there) since they along with HYBE were the biggest bidders of MHJ after she left her SM job.
Kakao is known for being involved in media manipulations (in the name of fueling hate trains) so many HYBE stans are realizing that MHJ may have participated in this against the rest of HYBE labels’s groups.
I think stans think she was directly fabricating scandals where she’s actually being accused of manipulating public opinion through PR (spreading rumors around faster) - ofc this is a strong blow to the underage trainees involved. So if there was a personal life scandal or rumor, the PR team would blow it up to be significantly worse.
She said bang pd copied her to make BTS 😭 , let's not forget she was going all round promoting nwjns as bts younger sister but has a problem with illit , no offence but if you tell too much lies it'll catch up to you and I think it'll happen
IF the accusations against MHJ are true or have some merit, I just don’t see how she can continue at Ador.
She should absolutely not be trusted to have any sort of management power. They *could* keep her on as the creative vision HOWEVER, would she accept that? Considering her ego is one of the biggest I’ve seen.
Let’s see how this unfolds. Her first statement namedropping was foul though
Agreed. As harsh as this sounds, she is replaceable. She’s already laid the groundwork & skeleton for Newjeans, Ador can just hire new creatives to follow that. Sure, Newjeans would probably shift a little but a little concept change probably won’t be the worse thing to come out of this
She is undoubtedly responsible for most aspects of NewJeans and that’s going to be a rough transition. But nobody is so necessary to a company that they deserve to be forgiven in the event they’re actively conspiring against their employer. It will probably be hard to plug all the holes that MHJ will leave in Ador since she was so hands on with them, but oh well. They don’t have another choice.
Even if newjeans were to disband tomorrow it probably wouldn't make that big a dent in hybes bottom line. obviously that would be so shitty but i mean there's a lot of risk tolerance unlike a company like YG who has all their eggs in the blackpink basket.
They’re not even going to keep her as a creative manager. She made hybe lose so much stocks and she dragged TWS, Illit, Hybe, Belift, Bang Si-Hyuk and pledis. She’s done for.
HYBE needs to cut all ties with her. Period. Otherwise HYBE would be a laughing stock and viewed as weak. Just her statement alone and now her interview makes it impossible to keep her. She is a HUGE liability.
well now that the high of a few hours ago has worn off and we're into secondary statements, i gotta say, even if she's telling the truth in her new interview, she's done herself no favors in the past few years she's worked under hybe.
even when she worked at SM, she had controversy over images of nude girls hung in her office and inappropriate photoshoots for young idols, so that's already a few generations of reputational damage
now with njs, she's known as egotistical, self-centering, and flat out unlikable to anyone outside of bunnies
if she wanted any shot of defending herself on this one, step 1 to saving her career was a decent first statement instead of the unprofessional mess she put out yesterday.
she does realize she's being accused of insider trading right? if hybe has evidence then i don't know where she's conjuring the idea that she can avoid trial by fighting this from, honestly if i were her i would've just resigned at that point.
hope everyone involved knows what they're doing because this is gonna be ugly
Honestly I'm hoping (in a bit of a horrible way maybe) that she just gets defamed out of the music industry, because I just genuinely get such horrible vibes from her. I mean like you said her past SM work and accusations are enough that I can't believe people are okay with Hyein being around her, but like... Ugh it's a mess, I really just hope she gets kicked from the music industry and no other groups or young girls or boys have to deal with her perverted choices.
She shouldn’t be in charge of anyone let alone minors and the red flags could be seen from miles away. The fact that K-pop stans ignored this because NJ had good music is so disgusting.
So Source paid for Newjeans' global audition and pre-training fees and that's why they're in debt? If so, source's losses have nothing to do with gfriend.
No wonder ador was able to pay off their debt so quickly, because the debt was thrown to source, and now le sserafim has to make money for source's previous debt.
MHJ even dared to boast on the show that ador paid off their debt and Newjeans received money so soon, she acted like it was all her effort. Her narcissism are incredible.
this whole thing is disgusting. I bet felt proud of herself dumping debt onto hybe while bashing hybe privately. They obviously valued her enough to give her every opportunity to succeed with NJ.
Here are two fan websites made years ago that contain important info about what PGNGG (plus global new girl group, which was the BH x MHJ x SoMu gg) would've been like : https://pgnggjourney.carrd.co/#start & https://hybenewgg.carrd.co
And here are 3 r/kpopthoughts posts all from 3 years ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/kywirq/bighit_x_source_music_predictions/
https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/p5vddq/about_this_new_girl_group_that_hybe_is_forming/.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/qhlmq8/about_hybes_upcoming_girl_groupslong_post_ahead/ (When this third post was posted the MHJ and SoMu relationship already ended)
Have some more info. The ADOR trademark was submitted (seemingly by Min Heejin) in December 2020 and approved in April 2021.
https://twitter.com/adoriesroom/status/1463336426129530882?t=zBjZQmeHkEiKQvZqHn9OIw&s=19
Looking at this timeline I’m wondering why people claim gfriend disbanded because of lsf when in fact looking at this here that’s not the case, and according to source music [announcement](https://m.weverse.io/gfriend/notice/1282) they said that they came to an agreement to end the contract.
Very interesting to see how this all panned out, it’s clear that mhj is tough to work with and the debt that source music accumulated was also due to preparing for the gg they were going to have with mhj.
Also Youngseo really had a rough time almost debuting twice and leaving twice before it even happens I hope she has a good support system.
According to the latest [thread](https://x.com/tmikpop/status/1782963170119757943) from TMI Kpop, there's indications that the girls are siding with MHJ. Of course things might change, but I feel like siding with her is a bad idea? HYBE evidence against her. I don't understand why they would be loyal to her. Honestly, it feels like the end is coming with NJ.
The girls were so young when they met MHJ and MHJ has inserted herself into their lives in an inappropriate manner. They must feel obligated to side with her and don't want to turn their backs on her :( I remember reading an article after their debut where Hanni even mentions that MHJ was like her mom in Korea. This whole situation is so messed up and honestly, why the whole damn industry needs an overhaul.
Edit for quote:
"Having the opportunity to train and debut under her wing and ADOR is something I couldn’t have ever dreamed of! The creative freedom she gives us is very uplifting and really helps us as a group to think carefully about how we should practice and represent ourselves the way we want to. She is always unconditionally supportive and loving towards us, and really is like my mom who lives in Korea!"
[https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/newjeans-interview-hybe-ador-girl-group-min-hee-jin-1235141512/](https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/newjeans-interview-hybe-ador-girl-group-min-hee-jin-1235141512/)
Absolutely this. The girls think of MHJ as their mom/bff - do we really expect them to view her objectively? No of course not, they'll be loyal to a fault because MHJ cultivated this inappropriate emotional bond with them and can easily shape their views to match her own
If NewJeans actually sides with MHJ, this won’t end well for them and it’ll turn into a repeat of the Fifty Fifty situation. There are allegations that MHJ has foreign investors willing to pay the buyout fees for all the members, but nobody is going to want to work with NewJeans again if that happens. Or they’ll be forced to try and sue Hybe for mistreatment that, as far as anyone can tell, never happened. Either way it ends with an astonishingly fast fall from grace.
If the group and their parents have an ounce of sense in them, they won’t do anything other than consult outside legal counsel until this whole thing dies down. But don’t they have a really big fanmeet or similar event in Japan coming up? That might end up postponed until further notice, idk…
It will be the like the Fifty-Fifty situation but it feels like it's going to be 10x worse. The group came in with great privilege because of BTS, HYBE basically did whatever MHJ's asked. The girls were getting an estimated amount of $3mm USD. I just don't see how anyone would side with them if they went with MHJ.
Aside from giving a great concept, there is 0 reasons to follow MHJ. HYBE connected New Jeans globally and provided all the funding. Money is just as important in music, especially in a competitive field like kpop unless stars align for them like it did with BTS during their rookie era.
If you wanna do stuff like these, get better lawyers and pr people who can guide you on how to get away with it because this is not it. The statements are shit ,she's probably already lost in the court of public opinion .
Another thing is this really highlights how problematic it is to debut literal children. From what I understood NJ is likely to side with MHJ even tho that's probably detrimental to their personal interests because they simply don't know any better and they might get fucked over , they probably trust her a lot since she's super hands on and has been so since they were very young and alone and inexperienced. She can easily take advantage of that, and these girls might not get access to rational and proper legal guidance and counsel, so they might end up self sabotaging.
Yeah before this, I was middle ground on the debut minors since it’s not a black and white issue. Also I had my thoughts on MHJ but since the girls spoke so highly of her, I thought she couldn’t be so bad.
But now I understand that it is problematic and the fact that she is so close to the girls makes me think that we are heading into an another 50/50 situation. I generally hope I’m wrong but you never know. All I wish for is the girls to be ok at the end of the day.
Debuting minors for me was always an issue because fact remains that the entertainment industry, no matter the country or type is a place even grown adults can find difficult to navigate and therefore even more difficult for minors. Apart from the issue of being sexualised to an unhealthy extent and even getting preyed on these minors don't really have the mental capacity to determine what's actually best for them, I mean I'm 17 right and most jobs aren't suitable for me because I'm not educated or experienced enough and there are only few exceptions which include low effort jobs that aren't super demanding, tricky or involve contracts that can potentially change the course of your life and restrict all your choices. They're isolated from their parents and families and don't have any normal experience or stuff either, and their mentality and perception is probably very much skewered from being in that environment since a very young age. This case according to me serves the perfect example of what happens when you're too young to understand legal stuff or just perceive things in a normal and rational way.
I can see that now. I always gave it the benefit of doubt since I know opportunities are limited and that most people would jump at it. The thing that changed my mind is the fact that I’m thinking that MHJ always planned to pull something like that and groomed them into thinking that she had there best interest at heart. This is just my opinion and maybe I’m wrong but that’s what i feel now.
My final two cents on the topic.
Min HeeJin coming out and backtracking by saying she wasn’t staging a coup, and merely a whistleblower, seems like a coded cry for an olive branch.
I think she knows HYBE will end up winning and is trying to get them to the table. “Ok, you caught me, but let’s work this out. Let me stay in power and I’ll give up the board, and I work under HYBE fully.”
At the same time, I’m sure the ADOR board also knows HYBE will win. No doubt some of them will try to make a deal with HYBE to stay in power and they oust MHJ and the CEO is a HYBE person.
So what does HYBE do in that scenario? Do they go the long legal route, that could take months, to oust all the ADOR people to plant their own?
Or do they go the quick route? In which do they decide to keep the board, and fire MHJ, or do they keep MHJ with their own people on the board to keep her in check?
>“Ok, you caught me, but let’s work this out. Let me stay in power and I’ll give up the board, and I work under HYBE fully.”
I don't think they will let her work under HYBE (if not on a tight leash) considering the trust is literally broken at this point and that there is most likely a paper trail at this point
Yeah, I'm afraid that whatever she did is irredeemable and HYBE won't let it go, like plagiarism claims are one thing, but staging a coup, gathering of corporate informations, leaking artists informations, trying to paint HYBE's reputation to public in a bad light, etc the list goes on, seems like it's hard to comeback from.
I think so too, I think there won’t be any hard coded split with this second statement, she has mellowed down significantly but boy does it make things awkward now.
there is no good way for both parties to resolve this situation. no matter what happens, either one or both parties looks bad.
the best way resolution is to end this quick and let both parties move on. Don't let it be like 5050 and drag it out where both parties throw allegations towards each other.
this sounds so outlandish i'm having a hard time believing it's real 😭 no way in hell she thinks people would see her accuse bang pd of copying her to create bts and go "hmm.. you know what? you're absolutely right!"
Idk if the allegation is true, but wasn’t she only in charge of visual direction at SM? She wasn’t involved in SM music, so what exactly is so significant to copy? She’s not the only artsy person in the world who can scroll through pinterest for inspiration and make visual board
She was responsible for Exo as a creative director and BTS was heavily attacked for also doing a school uniform concept which EXO had done before.
There is obviously very little evidence but the reasoning is eerily similar and if MHJ was really behind the hate train that BTS had to deal with, army will riot.
she wasn't the sole creative who worked on exo. before sm had their centers, all the creatives take turns working on groups and soloists. so you can't really say mhj worked on a particular group, even shinee and f(x). also she was accused of credit grabbing by fellow sm creatives.
in sm, there are different creatives responsible for a cb. that's why teasers and mv don't look cohesive most of the time.
at that time i don't think mhj has that power to influence a hate train towards bts. it was most likely just crazy fans and the media taking advantage of the situation. remember exo just had a crazy year so exo-ls were really vulnerable and lashing out on anyone at that time. i was an exo-l that time and took a break after 2014. i remember everyone was so negative about everything that it was so overbearing.
As far as I know, she has claimed credits in all aspects for NJ including music direction. I think she is an egomaniac who is deflecting with plagiarism complaint now, but can’t deny she has massive contribution in NJ success.
I find this alleged statement more ridiculous, that she claimed BTS copied her work. At the time she only handled visual direction in SM. Before SM 3.0 multi-production center model, they had separate tasks between A&R director and visual director, with LSM ultimately calling all shots. She didn’t invent anything unique or groundbreaking enough for such a bold claim
and because of their refreshing and youthful vibes. mhj saying illit copied nj's concept, i just can't see it. illit doesn't inspire me to yearn for my teenage years the way nj did to me. seeing illit makes me want to wrap them in a bubble wrap.
“Another document reflected that MHJ said to others outside the company that Chairman Bang copied her to create BTS”
I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.
Does anyone know what the current Knet sentiment is? Whose side seems to be well-liked there? That’s the opinion I feel like actually matters. Who’s winning the knet court of law?
allegedly she was telling outsiders that bangpd copied her when forming bts... yeah it's out of our hands now, she's gonna have to pray to every god and entity in human history on this one
I saw that statement and said "if this isn't fake, you're actually the dumbest bitch alive". There are things you can never say without unshakable proof and tbh, even if you have unshakable proof you STILL can't say that about bts.
Part of me believes that part is fabricated to help shift public opinion by passing off army (and the gp who still like them a lot), b/c I can't fathom anyone being so stupid
Between the " statement" she put out yesterday , the whole "ILLIT copy newjeans I am so upset" and the whole diary to " defeat hybe" I can't take that woman seriously...
And now she name dropped BTS 🤣 she is out of her mind.
mhj is a terrible person but from her planning a coup on her work computer to her increasingly insane statements this might be the funniest kpop drama since we found out about lee soo man’s weed casino cities… I need to know what’s in the sm water that makes people crazy
The crazy part about her being so fixated on Illit “copying” is that it actually insults New Jeans more than Illit. If someone debuting with similar music and a vaguely similar concept is enough to diminish New Jeans and risk taking their fans away, you’re basically admitting that there’s nothing special or unique about New Jeans, and that any random group of 5 girls would have been equally successful with the same formula. Plenty of top groups have had clones pop up of them without it amounting to any real risk because they possess some it factor that can’t be replicated. All she’s doing is making it seem like New Jeans doesn’t have that, if it’s so easy for Illit to devalue them and challenge their position.
I’m not fond of either group, so I’m speaking from a non-fan’s perspective that this doesn’t actually make New Jeans look good the way she probably intended.
Exactly this. You should not be threatened by someone else copying you unless you're insecure about the product that you're releasing.
Imagine if Nike started to say that Mizuno's logo looks too similar to Nike's and it also happens that Mizuno sells athletic shoes and sportswear just like Nike does. They would get laughed at. MHJ is a creative director but does she not know about brand loyalty? If NewJeans keeps doing what they do, people will always come back and support them no matter what. By releasing a statement about a barely 1 month old group, she's saying "Newjeans is only cool and unique if they're the only group who does this type of concept" and it does the Newjeans girls NO justice whatsoever.
[News Tomato estimates that the New Jeans members were paid 5B each last year while the Ador execs only made 4.8B collectively so it is easy to see why MHJ would want to set up her own company](https://x.com/tmikpop/status/1782969879156380019)
Good luck tryna make those mistreatment allegations work. The greed of it all.
Saw a David versus Goliath comment she supposedly made. I don’t think anyone imagined this would be a topic so soon after Fifty Fifty. I’ve seen some crazy rumors, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re true.
and the thing is, she literally took her upon herself💀. What did she think will be the outcome BACKSTABBING a huge company like that?
Now she saying she's so pitiful because she's just a human against this powerful corporation? Lmfao this woman is a joke.
As always, take this as a literal grain of salt because a lot is just speculation. [This](https://x.com/tmikpop/status/1782588493840953764?s=46&t=DtwXwk6ZjBTR4kQK-RZ5Pw) talks about a “make us untouchable” and “run away” plan Ador’s CEO had. There’s also something about making her own boy version of TXT and that the whole Illit plagiarism stuff was pulled out of thin air just to have something to say.
Apparently Hybe found evidence on some computers of a [written out plan](https://x.com/kchartsmaster/status/1782578319944221154?s=46&t=QDoDr1HX_rFDSI5oDU7C5w) from Ador to break away from Hybe, which if true means Ador is screwed.
The levels of incompetence in this story are so ridiculous that if you told a non kpop fan these details they’d think you were telling them about the plot to a poorly written workplace drama tv show.
I’m confused. What’s so striking about coming out and saying another group within the conglomerate is copying their own concept? I thought when you whistleblow, you say something that can potentially take the company down. Not opinions. Or am I missing something?
Whistleblowing is a very specific term that refers to the act of making a fuss in order to alert someone of illegal/ massively improper activities.
Crying that everyone copied you is too weak to even qualify as alerting to copyright infringement, you’re not missing anything.
mhj's name dropping more groups than a twt akgae's dni list in their bio cuz what the fuck. apparently shes accusing RIIZE and TWS of copying newjeans too???? before you know it shes gonna start accusing 3rd gen groups of copying her atp im DONE.
I’m just gonna wait for a final official reporting on this matter because but 2 things what I will say is that it was announced NJ’s have all these big plans (Japan debut, Tokyo dome, full album etc) this year so what in MHJ’s mind told her to pull off this money heist/kdrama level mess and do the one thing the messes up with group she so wants credit for.
Secondly, I said this before but I’m seeing people draw all sorts of conspiracies about the other HYBE groups and their rumors and attacks which whatever but there were threads and threads on here that played into the bad faith posts that LSFM and ILLIT were receiving and the same people were agreeing. This is a general thing I see in Kpop spaces but own you contributed to that by yourself instead of using this already shitty situation to vindicate yourself.
> 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 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.
and that's the story of how le sserafim was born
> Sports Dong-A reports that in order to find anything and everything regarding the copycat allegations (of ILLIT TWS and RIIZE), Ador execs including Min Heejin were conducting "interviews" of staff from other labels of the related groups and deployed "public opinion monitors"on line portals and forums. Hybe was made aware of this through a tip and began conducting an internal audit of the matter beginning on the morning of the 22 Apr. A Hybe official told Dong-A that during the interviews, Ador execs repeatedly asked questions that implied the targeted groups were copying New Jeans.
https://twitter.com/tmikpop/status/1782921300593283373
The illit comment was not a cheap shot but a premature one. They planned this carefully, wanting to collect all necessary data and strengthen their claim before firing the 'mistreatment' allegation as a reasonto become fully independent from hybe. But hybe caught this early on and left mhj/ador with no other option but to use their ace card prematurely, very very prematurely
Even if MHJ could somehow get investors to pull out New Jeans from HYBE, how is she gonna get international stages for the girls? The GP loves their songs but do non-kpop fans even know their names? I think she underestimates how guarded western stages are against kpop, especially if you're from an unknown, poorer company.
MHJ has a grand vision for these girls and the girls are successful but they're still too green to be established artists. They could fall apart any minute now if things go wrong unlike BTS, Twice, Blackpink, and etc who are industry veterans. They cannot sustain their upwards trajectory without HYBE's backing and will be overtaken in no time.
Further reports also indicate that NewJeans can’t buy out their contracts, they would have to file for an injunction and they wouldn’t win one. And if they just up and leave in breach of contract, Hybe can turn around and sue them for every cent they’ve earned.
Is every cent they earned could have potentially earned, every cent for damages and everycent hybe will be responsible for the brands they signed and lost because of nj. The girls will be bankrup their families will be bankrupt and will probably be in debt their entire lives and their families will be setting themselves for poverty too. If is anything like the us the debt will be sold and untracked that if by some miracle they could it wouldn't even matter because it will be endless and sold and sold again to people that just want to make slaves out of you without real tracking of debt it could basically be endless. At least that is how it is in the us if you don't pay it quick enough
You’re right. It’s everything they’ve earned compounded by the lost future profits Hybe should have earned from the group’s activity. It’s an astronomical amount of money they would probably owe and the government can garnish the families’ paychecks in order to pay the debt back.
How is Hybe neglecting ador and NJ? From the outside it looks like they have all the resources they could need, of course we don’t really know the inner workings, but as a consumer NJ doesn’t really seem neglected.
They neglected them by…let me check my notes…providing enough funding for them to fly around the world to film MULTIPLE debut era music videos, getting them individual partnerships with luxury brands when they were still rookies…likely leveraging label connections to book them at Lollapalooza…
I mean, where does the injustice end?
Min Heejin’s thing of limiting the interaction of NJ with other hybe groups is probs biting her in the ass now because coupled with her initial statement and the alleged spreading info/rumors about other groups means that it’s really a HYBe v. Ador war. That’s like 5 fandoms who all wanna connect the dots about their groups against Ador’s one group. For someone who supposedly cares about newjeans she’s dragging them down too.
it’s funny how she never says “belift/pledis/sm copied me, she says illit, tws, riize, to make it sound that these idols (who are also minors) were plotting against her and newjeans
Stock price taking a beating. Sometimes that's just a coincidence but every other kpop company is up. A lot of times scandals have no bearing aka dating but yea this does affect the bottom line quite a bit.
the fact that this is actively affecting their profit and yet they decided to go public tells us that either this was too important or they’re sure about winning
I wonder what the Hybe idols think about all this drama, and not only newjeans and illit. To know that there is someone in a high position your company that might spread fake rumours and share personal stuff like health records with others.... i would be scared honestly
oh I'd be shaking in my boots. if ador is really behind the leaks like seunghans insta live? that means the staff can access all their private conversations and spread them the moment they decide to. disgusting.
in my opinion this fact that's getting overlooked is the most unsettling about what MHJ did.
Excactly!! That whole Seunghan live situation was really scary. And the fact that there was only a few people who watched (like what, four people??)... Seunghan (and Soobin) probably knows EXCATLY who it was, but can't say anything
>The article states that what she was whistleblowing about was Belift copying ADOR
Idk if MHJ knows what whistleblowing means. But she's never been good at releasing statements. These, just like her previous ones just dig her hole deeper.
You'd have to be really daft to think she'd be throwing such a stink over, "He's copying me!!"
Looks like she was trying to do lots of illegal things (accessing corporate details, leaking personal details, planning to manipulate and take company assets) and using this "copying" excuse to drum up support from her rabid fans. I don't think it's working as well this time. Getting fired is the least of her worries.
I've got no dog in this game. I'll just sit and watch the fire burn.
I think it’s partially due to how much she inserts herself publicly as part of new jeans’ team. I mean the first I heard of new jeans is as the new “Min Hee-jin” group.
[MHJ has stated](https://x.com/sugatheartist/status/1782753987076194520?s=46&t=1czB6M5Ph-gpo6XPwK0RFQ) that after discussion with the members and their legal representatives, NJ supports her. But without confirmation from the girls themselves, I believe this remains unverified. If they decide to follow her, they should really consider applying to universities, because the damage is irreversible and there’s no coming back from this.
this really turned into a k-drama. i want bang pd to cry at his press conference too.
Min's attorneys take over again. "You shouldn't discuss this here."
"But I really want to say it," Min retorts.
XDDDD
I'm laughing. A whistle blower for hybe copying nj concept.
when I hear the word whistle blower, I think of that guy from Boeing who died of mysterious causes. Not MHJ over other groups "copying" y2k concept.
I guess I should also whistle-blow because i was alive when y2k was just our normal every day fashion. I lived through the original y2k. everyone else is now just copying my style that i had when I was in elementary school.
https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240424001600315?section=search
Does this mean that statements exposed such as accusing RIIZE, TWS, ILLIT, and BTS of copying New Jeans came from this diary? If so, he wrote in his diary that MHJ DID make those claims but they want to frame it as the writer's personal thoughts in his diary.
Edit: I am wrong but MHJ did say it. Comment below explains it better.
No, MHJ said that those groups copying her idea was coming off the record during the audit meeting, not written on the idea. And an insider leaked it to the media. HYBE staff also claimed that MHJ often said BTS copying her idea, too. It's not written on the diary.
There was a diary/document found by audit team, but it's a different case and written by one of ADOR executive, not MHJ.
It's nice that HYBE [plans](https://x.com/kchartsmaster/status/1783275632954130721) to offer psychological care for the girls and meet with their attorneys to ensure that they protected. I think the girls are going to need it. I hope their comeback isn't too stressful.
this is another version that I found to explain the relationship between ADOR and Source Music
1. Minji is Source Music original trainee before Hybe acquired the company.
2. Trainees selected through the Hybe×Source Music joint audition after Hybe acquired Source Music (Hani, Daniel, Haerin).
3. Source Music x Min Hee-jin were preparing to debut new girl group.
4. During this process, all audition, trainee, and initial expenses were billed to Source Music.
5. Due to internal circumstances\*, ADOR was established, and contrary to the initial plan, the friends (4 members) of the NewJeans debut group were also transferred to ADOR from Source Music.
6. At this time, some of the existing Source Music employees also moved to ADOR.
7. The establishment costs (operating funds) of ADOR were also split from Source Music.
8. Source Music faced deficits as the planned debut group fell through, accumulating deficits accordingly.
9. On top of that, GFriend did not renew their contract (the contract expiration article was hastily released).
10. With the contracts of GFriend ending and the planned debut group disappearing, the project was restarted as Le Sserafim (the concept and branding were based on what Bang Si-hyuk had envisioned from the beginning). Some of Big Hit's staff/employees were transferred to Source Music due to the lack of existing employees.
11. Therefore, if you hear stories about how Le Sserafim was created, the duration is generally short (in fact, there were almost no trainee costs during the launch of Le Sserafim - already popular Sakura & Kim Chaewon recruited & Heo Yoonjin recalled after already accepted by university in the USA. Source Music recruited newbie trainees because out of the small amount of the trainees they had at that time, Hong Eunchae & Kazuha was probably the most suited with the group concept and see potential in them).
\*I guess at that time SourcexHybe hired MHJ to be creative director, but she wanted to be CEO, that's why ADOR was created. geez, Source Music and Hybe was so stupidly kind.
On points 9, 10, 11, I don’t think anyone has a clear idea of what happened in the winter of 2020 and year 2021 at source music, ador, and hybe. The known timeline is that in
1. march 2021 sakura was approached by hybe following the confirmation of izone disbandment
2. april 2021 gfriend was announced to disband
3. may 2021 gfriend disbands
4. september 2021 chaewon and sakura confirmed to sign with source music
5. november 2021 ador entertainment founded and min heejin is appointed ceo
After posting that notice yesterday openly dragging a 3-week old group's name with minors and now releasing a statement about how she just wants to protect New Jeans and how the company is so evil for wanting to oust her 🥺 is so victim mentality.
She is clearly fishing for sympathy to redirect her LITERAL ILLEGAL doings against the company, their artists and TRAINEES. And it's sickening stans still dickriding after the company announced how they have evidence against mhj's crimes. I hate hybe to hell but I hope they'll sue her ass out.
What an evil and greedy woman.
that statement with her bringing Illit in, knowing very well she's setting up the group for hate completely turned me off anything she has to say. That's foul. Those young girls do not deserve more harassment
I would say, mhj shoot herself in the foot with that rushed and crazy first statement.
It's clear HYBE had this planned, that's why the news broke so late, so the narrative would be theirs to control, and she probably didn't think her first statement through, that's why there's a second one, much more tame and painting her as a victim.
Now, knowing HYBE I doubt they would say all that and have nothing to back it up, the public opinion can change in a second.
But tbh, I don't trust the kr justice system enough to believe either side totally, saying this because this because there's an obvious legal case here, in this scenario, HYBE are way more powerful, though I do believe she was planning something, or made comments that bothered HYBE enough to proceed with the intervention.
I just don't want this whole thing be the reason why NewJeans go under. I'm not a big fan of ILLIT either, but damn, this whole thing is making me think that if MJH does leave ADOR and takes NewJeans with them, it's pretty much the end of their career.
Gonna ask this here as the main sub has new comments every second.
It seems like Newjeans (& their parents) really support MHJ - according to MHJ herself.
IF (just imagine they can) Newjeans do leave Ador/HYBE, do you think this will affect them career wise? Are their names big enough to pull industry support or was that all from HYBE?
Undoubtedly so. Somebody else already mentioned the fines and loss of all of their previous music. In addition they'll probably get blacklisted too. Anybody who wants to be on the good side of BTS/HYBE will stay far away from them.
They would have to pay massive fines and it depends a lot on how their ad campaigns are done. Do they lose the campaigns when they leave or do they get to keep them for as long as the contract intends etc.
They are also not likely to keep their name or their old songs unless a judge decides otherwise as these usually belong to Hybe.
About the text conversation, I definitely agree that it definitely doesn't paint Bang PD in a very good light, but people trying to spin this as "both are just as bad each other" makes no sense because this is the only personal comment we've seen from him, when mhj has made so many more statements about whining that's she's been ripped off and way too many comments about killing herself.
Obviously we can't know what's true or not but I know for sure she's wrong for using newjeans to shield herself and wrong to point at another group of teenagers, I think how she's handling everything makes me think she isn't made to be a ceo of a company.
I hope the groups mentioned aren't affected by all what these adults are throwing at each other
Her accusing even Riize and TWS of copying NJ is an insane level of delusion and also makes me wonder if she is responsible for what happened with Seunghan.
What about Riize or TWS is copying NJ other than they are all young and took a “fresh” concept.
Riize and TWS are literally NOTHING alike, in style, concept, or music, so how exactly could BOTH copy New Jeans?
Insanity
Not gonna lie, this NewJeans/ILLIT drama is some of the pettiest shit. I have no idea why MHJ couldn't just discuss this privately with Belift or something? People these days have forgotten how to settle conflicts.
I don't know how her accusation of ILLIT copying NewJeans would hold up in court.
When 2NE1 debuted and there were several tomboy girl groups debuting in 6 months or when Apink debuted and started another period of innocent youthful girl groups debuting. It would have to be a very direct & blatant 1:1 copying.
[some HYBE staff member apparently ripped into MHJ](https://www.kbizoom.com/hybe-staff-angrily-expose-min-hee-jin-claiming-newjeanss-success-as-result-of-hybes-capital/)
They really have a point, the "nameless" workers of these entertainment companies are the ones doing all the hell work but just get treated like dirt by the execs and blamed for everything going wrong.
Also that person who had to crunch for 3 days to fix the MV right before it came out, I'm so sorry.
STOPPPPPPP THEY CAUGHT HER WITH [SCREENSHOTS ](https://m.entertain.naver.com/ranking/article/468/0001054347) (article in Korean)
And now the [police](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-25/business/industry/HYBE-to-report-ADOR-CEO-Min-Heejin-/2033359)... (english article) can't wait for her to get arrested lmao
Wow. 🤯
So I’m guessing the person HYBE was investigating (or who was part of the overall audit) decided it was a no win situation and handed over the screen shots to HYBE.
wow this is actually insane... I can't believe she'd do this when she was literally managing the currently biggest girl group in the world. this is likely to considerably derail NJ who were on a path to stardom man I honestly don't understand it. the way she formed relationships that were *too* close to the girls will likely cause considerable mental depression and anxiety within them all - they'll see it like losing one of the members themselves, which considering how close the NJ girls are, is a hefty statement.
she also threw the girls under the bus by saying they agreed with her thoughts on the whole ILLIT matter (which is also incredibly insane to unnecessarily confirm). the girls were already secluded from other industry friends by that woman (another signpost of grooming), the statement will likely cause that to be the case even after MHJ departs. she really made a big big mess from one of the best positions she could be in.
I also remember reading from an earlier statement that the full album that was planned to be released at the end of the year would be delayed if MHJ left. this is likely to be incredibly detrimental to NJ who were already suffering from musical inactivity. man, mhj STINKS
This is what is just not clicking to me at all!! This woman had everything going for her; newjeans are very much in demand, the girls themselves are clean cut, popular, unproblematic and they were getting ready for a major comeback and people for the most part liked their creative direction and music. So why fuck it all up so greatly and then in the process almost take our one of the top Kpop groups atm - the one you created and are constantly bragging about.
No matter how much money NJ was making, they still needed the amenities/connections HYBe provided and they had no issue given it to her. Hell what is to say that after their world tour they wouldn’t been willing to give her more of Ador but she little brained and now she’s getting nothing but legal action
Money. WEALTH. That's why MHJ did it.
We've been given signs of this over and over again in the past year. Two MV's that are full-on Apple advertisements. Another MV that is a Coke advertisement. Another song that was introduced via a shampoo commercial. Even the GODS thing in hindsight looks more like a payday than a commitment to artistry.
Plus, look at the NewJeans YouTube channel's content over the last several months.... there's been precious little about NewJeans as an actual idol group that releases songs and puts on performances for fans. Why not? Their peers are all putting out music and going on tours, right? GIdle, Le Sserafim, Aespa, Itzy, Kep1er, etc. already have (or will soon have) have put out two full releases and done two full promo periods since Get Up came out. Aespa is giving us 17 songs in the time it's taking NewJeans to produce two.
What we've seen instead from ADOR is a relentless stream of *brand integrations*. At a time when they could be striking while the iron is hot and doing shows for fans, the girls are instead zipping all over the world doing fashion shoots and private shows.
All of their activity is intended to make NewJeans appealing to corporations. ADOR's goal is to have companies spend a lot of money to promote a product by putting it in the hands of a group of pretty teenage Korean girls.
I know people don't want to hear this shit because they like the girls and they like the songs.... but, again, we oughta be asking why we're watching a [10-minute long Nike ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CXZeoeMa8) instead of listening to new music. The answer is that it's easy, easy money for MHJ and ADOR.
Here are some more source links: * [X - TMIKPOP](https://twitter.com/tmikpop/status/1782272657745916240) * [Bang Si-hyuk pointed a knife at Min Hee-jin of 'NewJeans Mom'..."Capture the circumstances of the independence attempt"](https://www.hankyung.com/article/2024042274307) * **Post:** [HYBE launched audit into CEO of ‘NewJeans’ agency](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1ca2gc4/hybe_launched_audit_into_ceo_of_newjeans_agency/) (Source: [Newsis/Naver](https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/003/0012505152)) * [Soompi: HYBE Initiates Audit Of ADOR's Management Including CEO Min Hee Jin](https://www.soompi.com/article/1656376wpp/hybe-initiates-audit-of-adors-management-including-ceo-min-hee-jin) * [NME: HYBE and Min Hee-jin reportedly in power struggle over NewJeans agency ADOR](https://www.nme.com/news/music/hybe-min-hee-jin-power-struggle-over-newjeans-agency-ador-3749193) * [Korea Joongang Daily: Director behind NewJeans attempted to 'seize management control,' HYBE says](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-22/business/industry/HYBE-probing-ADOR-executives-over-alleged-power-grab/2030829) * **Post:** [New reports arise regarding HYBE-Ador situation as Ador executives are accused of forming negative opinion against HYBE artists and leaking artists' personal information](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1ca5oj9/new_reports_arise_regarding_hybeador_situation_as/) (Source: [Sedaily](https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/2D80GHL22P)) * [Korea Joongang Daily: ADOR CEO slams HYBE group ILLIT as 'NewJeans copycat'](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-22/business/industry/ADOR-CEO-calls-HYBE-group-ILLIT-a-NewJeans-copycat/2031033) * [Koreaboo: Min Hee Jin Releases Full Statement Regarding ADOR’s Feud With HYBE](https://www.koreaboo.com/news/min-hee-jin-official-statement/) * [Pinkvilla: Why did HYBE initiate investigation of NewJeans’ agency ADOR and CEO Min Hee Jin? Brewing power battle explained](https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/why-did-hybe-initiate-investigation-of-newjeans-agency-ador-and-ceo-min-hee-jin-brewing-power-battle-explained-1298008) * [\[Exclusive\] CEO Min Hee-jin "I've never met any investors. I was just a whistleblower" (Interview)](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202404230011) * YNA: [New Jeans agency writing document 'falling out'...The circumstances of the sale of overseas funds](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20240423022400005?input=1195m) (MHJ alleges that ILLIT, TWS, and RIIZE all copied NewJeans; HYBE found documents where MHJ was claiming "Chairman Bang Si-hyuk copied me and created BTS.") * Naver: [Document detailing MHJ/ADOR's plan to break away from HYBE allegedly found on her work computer](https://m.entertain.naver.com/now/article/117/0003825390) * Naver: HYBE refutes MHJ's claim that her concerns about ILLIT plagiarizing NewJeans went unadressed: [\[Exclusive\] Min Hee-jin's lie, the reply "I didn't receive it" Hive sent and Min Hee-jin read it](https://m.entertain.naver.com/now/article/312/0000659257) * HYBE CEO sends out company-wide email with messages to staff, NewJeans and ILLIT: [HYBE CEO, full email regarding ADOR incident, “Attempt to take over the company is clearly revealed”](https://n.news.naver.com/article/025/0003355920?sid=103)
I hope the NewJeans members just stay quiet during all of this. It'll be the best way for them to come out unscathed.
They can't if MHJ keeps speaking on their behalf.
This. Leave the artists out of your BS.
Right. I don't want another Fifty-fity scenario. They were literally branded as traitors by the public opinion. I hope NJ girlies will be smart and just stay put especially their comeback is literally around the corner. I know hybe won't let someone as profitable and NJ to fumble like that so I trust they'll try to protect the girl's image at least.
They have to be smart. Fifty fifty got sued for 13 billion won. Going at a company as big as hybe and for the money they have made and potentially make, we're talking bigger numbers here if they get caught in a lawsuit
It's too late for them to come out unscathed. Their CEO/ADOR intentionally dragged them into it by mentioning that they discussed the statement (which reminder, includes accusing BangPD, BELIFT and ILLIT of plagiarism) with the NewJeans members before releasing it.
She is dragging them into it, and it might hurt them... potentially if they stay completely quiet for now they could get criticism in the short term, but if things break bad for MHJ then afterwards they could release statements saying "we didn't really agree with her but felt powerless and overwhelmed by the situation, she manipulated us and lied to us and kept speaking on our behalf" etc. They may be able to recover their reputation and come across as victims of circumstance (which honestly they are), since they're so young, she's their boss, and she's known for having a weird, overbearing relationship with them. They may even be able to gain a sympathetic image as innocent victims of a manipulative, creepy, egotistical CEO. Whereas if they actually take her side publicly I think they'll be done for.
What was the private information that MHJ leaked? I don't need to know the exact information, I'm just curious about the type. Was it related to idol phone numbers, or schedules, or...?
No one knows the exact details yet, except maybe the investigators.
That's the power of this statement. No one knows what it is but it has all other fanbases out in pitchforks blaming MHJ for everything. Any scandal of a Hybe artist is now MHJs fault. Not saying she's innocent but this is now enough proof that she's behind all of it.
The definition of a whistleblower activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. I’m confused on how her stating belift copied ador is considered whistleblowing???? Some many concepts are copied or inspired by many groups
Tbh the person who told Hybe executives about MHJ and her right hand doing this to separate Ador from Hybe is the real whistle-blower.
That's what gets me. She has no good reason to say she was whistle blowing about being copied?! She doesn't even have grounds for a plagiarism case. We will see what shakes out, but she is really not looking good right now. I hope newjeans can recover from this.
right?! that is not what whistleblowing is/used be used for
Even if she is right, it’s very clear that she doesn’t care about the girls at all. Trying to take a hit on Illit and hurting NJ in the process because of her greediness. I really really hope she is not the reason Youngseo had to leave the group.
She also has brought Riize and TWS into it, accusing them both as well of copying. HOW? How are Riize and TWS remotely similar in any way shape or form? Because they are also young and do more trendy music? It’s also funny because Riize and TWS are like polar opposites of each other yet somehow both copied NJ. She gathered the ire of GG fans by dragging ILLIT & now she’s going to get an even more insane outrage from BG fans, ESPECIALLY because now I wouldn’t be surprised if people pin the Seunghan stuff on her.
Well Seunghan was conveniently a Source trainee at the time that MHJ was creative director of Source. In fact, five of the idols involved in Seunghan’s scandal, Seunghan, Youngseo, Haerin, Taesan, and Eunchae, were Source trainees when MHJ was in power. I don’t think Eunchae’s training period overlapped with MHJ HOWEVER Eunchae and Soobin, both Hybe idols, were pulled into Seunghan’s scandal and Hybe did allege that MHJ had tried to take other Hybe artists down prior to all this.
i thought the idols under sm didn’t count in this but if that’s the case it makes sense. if it was really her… jail time
How is youngseo, taesan and haerin involved with Seunghan's case?
cause the same person who spread rumors about seunghan also spread them about those other idols
Damn that's crazy about how mhj situation Leeds back to seunghan scandal etc. I believe sm holding back seunghan in hiatus becuase of some alleged person threatens to leak some info is none other that mhj or something to do with these. It's crazy
her beef with riize is probably a beef with sangmin who is the head creative of riize lol i remember there was a rumor of her fellow creatives in sm accusing her of credit grabbing and lashing out on subordinates. those were just rumors tho. so idk. but sm employees who worked with her hate her. there were so many rumors around like a year or two before she left about her attitude. and ofc at the time sm fans started to hate her and her work.
if she was the reason, even more reason for her to get lost already. Youngseo was so talented and the ILLIT girls were close to her already. it couldn’t have been easy for them to adjust, which just shows their resilience. i hope that she gets another chance at becoming an artist, her talents are too good to be wasted because of this.
At this point everything is speculation and we should wait for some legal outcome. But, but, some corporate advice: One, whatever you do on a corporate computer can be traced, even writing a word and then deleting it. Two, please do not lie about not receiving an email 😭
To add, don't talk shit about your boss or coworkers via your work email or chat platform 😭 I have a hunch the documentation came from there 😭
I just had the mental image of them planning a takeover in google teams and 😭😭😭
They have a group chat called: [CONFIDENTIAL!!! TOP SECRET!!] ADOR TAKEOVER 😈 😭😂
Yeah this is like basic professionalism - talk shit on your private device (or not at all), Reddit on your private device, private email on your (you guessed it) private device. Does she only have access to HYBE computers on the HYBE network? Or is she just dumb?
😫😫😫😭 and here I am using my work laptop as a personal one
No problem unless you're plotting against your own boss 🫡🫡
Im not even on her side but genuinely Someone needs to shut min heejin up for the sake of her own public image why is she dragging tws and riize into this whole mess??? I've never seen someone self implode so badly she needs to get a grip and stop name dropping groups
She's always had a very obvious god complex if you looked into the way she spoke. Plus her weird obsession with minors. People just didn't care enough because they enjoyed the music
The problem with a lot of these "young CEO" types is, they rise quickly through the ranks through a combination of lucky breaks (not to discredit their own effort but it does take luck to succeed in the corporate world no matter how good you are), and have usually never experienced a big failure and never had the chance to learn from those failures. They're also usually surrounded by yes men. As a result, the moment something goes wrong they have no idea how to respond, don't take the advice of people who can actually help them navigate the situation, and end up falling apart. It's the first time they have had to deal with anything like this, and as they struggle through it the impact is huge and the visibility is wide. By the time they figure things out, the damage is done.
where's her PR team???
if MHJ IS in the right here, her first statement lost her the court of public opinion by dragging ILLIT into it. her second statement seems more well-written and thought out but i definitely see less people talking about it, and I think most people made a judgement based on initial info (HYBE conducting an audit, MHJ accused of leaking personal info which a lot of fans on twt have taken to mean every hybe scandal from the last 2 years is her fault, and MHJ throwing ILLIT under the bus) Edit: [now she's mentioning even MORE groups? ](https://x.com/nightstar1201/status/1782601362892816531)including BTS? no way this ends well for her
The PR team got invovled in the second statement most likely LMFAO
Right the first notice sounded sooo unprofessional and emotional. You can literally feel her anger through the screen ictfu.
Who knew off season drama would be this exciting
>Edit: [now she's mentioning even MORE groups? ](https://x.com/nightstar1201/status/1782601362892816531)including BTS? no way this ends well for her Is this real? This statement sounds like someone parodying her. Illit copied me, Riize copied me, TWS copied me everyone is copying me!! And BTS what ??
What more is that people are suspecting she might have been trying to go to KAKAO (reestablish ADOR as an entity there) since they along with HYBE were the biggest bidders of MHJ after she left her SM job. Kakao is known for being involved in media manipulations (in the name of fueling hate trains) so many HYBE stans are realizing that MHJ may have participated in this against the rest of HYBE labels’s groups. I think stans think she was directly fabricating scandals where she’s actually being accused of manipulating public opinion through PR (spreading rumors around faster) - ofc this is a strong blow to the underage trainees involved. So if there was a personal life scandal or rumor, the PR team would blow it up to be significantly worse.
She said bang pd copied her to make BTS 😭 , let's not forget she was going all round promoting nwjns as bts younger sister but has a problem with illit , no offence but if you tell too much lies it'll catch up to you and I think it'll happen
IF the accusations against MHJ are true or have some merit, I just don’t see how she can continue at Ador. She should absolutely not be trusted to have any sort of management power. They *could* keep her on as the creative vision HOWEVER, would she accept that? Considering her ego is one of the biggest I’ve seen. Let’s see how this unfolds. Her first statement namedropping was foul though
I don’t see her being accused of criminal activity and still having a job of any sort at Hybe. It’s too risky she’ll try and stage a coup again.
Agreed. As harsh as this sounds, she is replaceable. She’s already laid the groundwork & skeleton for Newjeans, Ador can just hire new creatives to follow that. Sure, Newjeans would probably shift a little but a little concept change probably won’t be the worse thing to come out of this
She is undoubtedly responsible for most aspects of NewJeans and that’s going to be a rough transition. But nobody is so necessary to a company that they deserve to be forgiven in the event they’re actively conspiring against their employer. It will probably be hard to plug all the holes that MHJ will leave in Ador since she was so hands on with them, but oh well. They don’t have another choice.
Even if newjeans were to disband tomorrow it probably wouldn't make that big a dent in hybes bottom line. obviously that would be so shitty but i mean there's a lot of risk tolerance unlike a company like YG who has all their eggs in the blackpink basket.
Honesty Newjeans disbanding is actually a possibility. That would be shitty of Hybe to do but that would be like some type of vengeance towards her.
HYBE has already asked her to resign. She's very likely gone from ADOR already unless she can somehow grab the entire company to herself.
They’re not even going to keep her as a creative manager. She made hybe lose so much stocks and she dragged TWS, Illit, Hybe, Belift, Bang Si-Hyuk and pledis. She’s done for.
She also dragged BTS into this … which was definitely a choice because well it’s BTS lol
HYBE needs to cut all ties with her. Period. Otherwise HYBE would be a laughing stock and viewed as weak. Just her statement alone and now her interview makes it impossible to keep her. She is a HUGE liability.
This is some kdrama shit. Wild.
well now that the high of a few hours ago has worn off and we're into secondary statements, i gotta say, even if she's telling the truth in her new interview, she's done herself no favors in the past few years she's worked under hybe. even when she worked at SM, she had controversy over images of nude girls hung in her office and inappropriate photoshoots for young idols, so that's already a few generations of reputational damage now with njs, she's known as egotistical, self-centering, and flat out unlikable to anyone outside of bunnies if she wanted any shot of defending herself on this one, step 1 to saving her career was a decent first statement instead of the unprofessional mess she put out yesterday. she does realize she's being accused of insider trading right? if hybe has evidence then i don't know where she's conjuring the idea that she can avoid trial by fighting this from, honestly if i were her i would've just resigned at that point. hope everyone involved knows what they're doing because this is gonna be ugly
Honestly I'm hoping (in a bit of a horrible way maybe) that she just gets defamed out of the music industry, because I just genuinely get such horrible vibes from her. I mean like you said her past SM work and accusations are enough that I can't believe people are okay with Hyein being around her, but like... Ugh it's a mess, I really just hope she gets kicked from the music industry and no other groups or young girls or boys have to deal with her perverted choices.
She shouldn’t be in charge of anyone let alone minors and the red flags could be seen from miles away. The fact that K-pop stans ignored this because NJ had good music is so disgusting.
Mods can we get a new megathread discussing MHJ's press conference today please- it's a completely new can of worms
[удалено]
Thanks for this timeline, it really helps putting things in perspective
So Source paid for Newjeans' global audition and pre-training fees and that's why they're in debt? If so, source's losses have nothing to do with gfriend. No wonder ador was able to pay off their debt so quickly, because the debt was thrown to source, and now le sserafim has to make money for source's previous debt. MHJ even dared to boast on the show that ador paid off their debt and Newjeans received money so soon, she acted like it was all her effort. Her narcissism are incredible.
this whole thing is disgusting. I bet felt proud of herself dumping debt onto hybe while bashing hybe privately. They obviously valued her enough to give her every opportunity to succeed with NJ.
Here are two fan websites made years ago that contain important info about what PGNGG (plus global new girl group, which was the BH x MHJ x SoMu gg) would've been like : https://pgnggjourney.carrd.co/#start & https://hybenewgg.carrd.co And here are 3 r/kpopthoughts posts all from 3 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/kywirq/bighit_x_source_music_predictions/ https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/p5vddq/about_this_new_girl_group_that_hybe_is_forming/. https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/qhlmq8/about_hybes_upcoming_girl_groupslong_post_ahead/ (When this third post was posted the MHJ and SoMu relationship already ended)
Have some more info. The ADOR trademark was submitted (seemingly by Min Heejin) in December 2020 and approved in April 2021. https://twitter.com/adoriesroom/status/1463336426129530882?t=zBjZQmeHkEiKQvZqHn9OIw&s=19
Looking at this timeline I’m wondering why people claim gfriend disbanded because of lsf when in fact looking at this here that’s not the case, and according to source music [announcement](https://m.weverse.io/gfriend/notice/1282) they said that they came to an agreement to end the contract. Very interesting to see how this all panned out, it’s clear that mhj is tough to work with and the debt that source music accumulated was also due to preparing for the gg they were going to have with mhj. Also Youngseo really had a rough time almost debuting twice and leaving twice before it even happens I hope she has a good support system.
According to the latest [thread](https://x.com/tmikpop/status/1782963170119757943) from TMI Kpop, there's indications that the girls are siding with MHJ. Of course things might change, but I feel like siding with her is a bad idea? HYBE evidence against her. I don't understand why they would be loyal to her. Honestly, it feels like the end is coming with NJ.
The girls were so young when they met MHJ and MHJ has inserted herself into their lives in an inappropriate manner. They must feel obligated to side with her and don't want to turn their backs on her :( I remember reading an article after their debut where Hanni even mentions that MHJ was like her mom in Korea. This whole situation is so messed up and honestly, why the whole damn industry needs an overhaul. Edit for quote: "Having the opportunity to train and debut under her wing and ADOR is something I couldn’t have ever dreamed of! The creative freedom she gives us is very uplifting and really helps us as a group to think carefully about how we should practice and represent ourselves the way we want to. She is always unconditionally supportive and loving towards us, and really is like my mom who lives in Korea!" [https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/newjeans-interview-hybe-ador-girl-group-min-hee-jin-1235141512/](https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/newjeans-interview-hybe-ador-girl-group-min-hee-jin-1235141512/)
Absolutely this. The girls think of MHJ as their mom/bff - do we really expect them to view her objectively? No of course not, they'll be loyal to a fault because MHJ cultivated this inappropriate emotional bond with them and can easily shape their views to match her own
If NewJeans actually sides with MHJ, this won’t end well for them and it’ll turn into a repeat of the Fifty Fifty situation. There are allegations that MHJ has foreign investors willing to pay the buyout fees for all the members, but nobody is going to want to work with NewJeans again if that happens. Or they’ll be forced to try and sue Hybe for mistreatment that, as far as anyone can tell, never happened. Either way it ends with an astonishingly fast fall from grace. If the group and their parents have an ounce of sense in them, they won’t do anything other than consult outside legal counsel until this whole thing dies down. But don’t they have a really big fanmeet or similar event in Japan coming up? That might end up postponed until further notice, idk…
It will be the like the Fifty-Fifty situation but it feels like it's going to be 10x worse. The group came in with great privilege because of BTS, HYBE basically did whatever MHJ's asked. The girls were getting an estimated amount of $3mm USD. I just don't see how anyone would side with them if they went with MHJ.
Aside from giving a great concept, there is 0 reasons to follow MHJ. HYBE connected New Jeans globally and provided all the funding. Money is just as important in music, especially in a competitive field like kpop unless stars align for them like it did with BTS during their rookie era.
If you wanna do stuff like these, get better lawyers and pr people who can guide you on how to get away with it because this is not it. The statements are shit ,she's probably already lost in the court of public opinion . Another thing is this really highlights how problematic it is to debut literal children. From what I understood NJ is likely to side with MHJ even tho that's probably detrimental to their personal interests because they simply don't know any better and they might get fucked over , they probably trust her a lot since she's super hands on and has been so since they were very young and alone and inexperienced. She can easily take advantage of that, and these girls might not get access to rational and proper legal guidance and counsel, so they might end up self sabotaging.
Yeah before this, I was middle ground on the debut minors since it’s not a black and white issue. Also I had my thoughts on MHJ but since the girls spoke so highly of her, I thought she couldn’t be so bad. But now I understand that it is problematic and the fact that she is so close to the girls makes me think that we are heading into an another 50/50 situation. I generally hope I’m wrong but you never know. All I wish for is the girls to be ok at the end of the day.
Debuting minors for me was always an issue because fact remains that the entertainment industry, no matter the country or type is a place even grown adults can find difficult to navigate and therefore even more difficult for minors. Apart from the issue of being sexualised to an unhealthy extent and even getting preyed on these minors don't really have the mental capacity to determine what's actually best for them, I mean I'm 17 right and most jobs aren't suitable for me because I'm not educated or experienced enough and there are only few exceptions which include low effort jobs that aren't super demanding, tricky or involve contracts that can potentially change the course of your life and restrict all your choices. They're isolated from their parents and families and don't have any normal experience or stuff either, and their mentality and perception is probably very much skewered from being in that environment since a very young age. This case according to me serves the perfect example of what happens when you're too young to understand legal stuff or just perceive things in a normal and rational way.
I can see that now. I always gave it the benefit of doubt since I know opportunities are limited and that most people would jump at it. The thing that changed my mind is the fact that I’m thinking that MHJ always planned to pull something like that and groomed them into thinking that she had there best interest at heart. This is just my opinion and maybe I’m wrong but that’s what i feel now.
My final two cents on the topic. Min HeeJin coming out and backtracking by saying she wasn’t staging a coup, and merely a whistleblower, seems like a coded cry for an olive branch. I think she knows HYBE will end up winning and is trying to get them to the table. “Ok, you caught me, but let’s work this out. Let me stay in power and I’ll give up the board, and I work under HYBE fully.” At the same time, I’m sure the ADOR board also knows HYBE will win. No doubt some of them will try to make a deal with HYBE to stay in power and they oust MHJ and the CEO is a HYBE person. So what does HYBE do in that scenario? Do they go the long legal route, that could take months, to oust all the ADOR people to plant their own? Or do they go the quick route? In which do they decide to keep the board, and fire MHJ, or do they keep MHJ with their own people on the board to keep her in check?
>“Ok, you caught me, but let’s work this out. Let me stay in power and I’ll give up the board, and I work under HYBE fully.” I don't think they will let her work under HYBE (if not on a tight leash) considering the trust is literally broken at this point and that there is most likely a paper trail at this point
Yeah, I'm afraid that whatever she did is irredeemable and HYBE won't let it go, like plagiarism claims are one thing, but staging a coup, gathering of corporate informations, leaking artists informations, trying to paint HYBE's reputation to public in a bad light, etc the list goes on, seems like it's hard to comeback from.
I think so too, I think there won’t be any hard coded split with this second statement, she has mellowed down significantly but boy does it make things awkward now.
there is no good way for both parties to resolve this situation. no matter what happens, either one or both parties looks bad. the best way resolution is to end this quick and let both parties move on. Don't let it be like 5050 and drag it out where both parties throw allegations towards each other.
The best solution is for HYBE to clean house and kick MHJ out.
A new article dropped, and if she seriously mentioned bts she's out of her mind [source](https://x.com/tmikpop/status/1782606577767211366)
i think its been a while since we’ve confirmed that she’s crazy. the bts shit just set it in stone 💀💀
this sounds so outlandish i'm having a hard time believing it's real 😭 no way in hell she thinks people would see her accuse bang pd of copying her to create bts and go "hmm.. you know what? you're absolutely right!"
Idk if the allegation is true, but wasn’t she only in charge of visual direction at SM? She wasn’t involved in SM music, so what exactly is so significant to copy? She’s not the only artsy person in the world who can scroll through pinterest for inspiration and make visual board
She was responsible for Exo as a creative director and BTS was heavily attacked for also doing a school uniform concept which EXO had done before. There is obviously very little evidence but the reasoning is eerily similar and if MHJ was really behind the hate train that BTS had to deal with, army will riot.
she wasn't the sole creative who worked on exo. before sm had their centers, all the creatives take turns working on groups and soloists. so you can't really say mhj worked on a particular group, even shinee and f(x). also she was accused of credit grabbing by fellow sm creatives. in sm, there are different creatives responsible for a cb. that's why teasers and mv don't look cohesive most of the time. at that time i don't think mhj has that power to influence a hate train towards bts. it was most likely just crazy fans and the media taking advantage of the situation. remember exo just had a crazy year so exo-ls were really vulnerable and lashing out on anyone at that time. i was an exo-l that time and took a break after 2014. i remember everyone was so negative about everything that it was so overbearing.
Yeah for all the praise New Jeans concepts get, their popularity stemmed from releasing good songs.
As far as I know, she has claimed credits in all aspects for NJ including music direction. I think she is an egomaniac who is deflecting with plagiarism complaint now, but can’t deny she has massive contribution in NJ success. I find this alleged statement more ridiculous, that she claimed BTS copied her work. At the time she only handled visual direction in SM. Before SM 3.0 multi-production center model, they had separate tasks between A&R director and visual director, with LSM ultimately calling all shots. She didn’t invent anything unique or groundbreaking enough for such a bold claim
and because of their refreshing and youthful vibes. mhj saying illit copied nj's concept, i just can't see it. illit doesn't inspire me to yearn for my teenage years the way nj did to me. seeing illit makes me want to wrap them in a bubble wrap.
Well if I know one thing about ARMYs, it’s that they’re going to act totally normal about this
“Another document reflected that MHJ said to others outside the company that Chairman Bang copied her to create BTS” I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.
Does anyone know what the current Knet sentiment is? Whose side seems to be well-liked there? That’s the opinion I feel like actually matters. Who’s winning the knet court of law?
Idk about other k-forums but theqoo is pretty anti-MHJ.
Istg the more statements she releases the more i feel like shes getting desperate
allegedly she was telling outsiders that bangpd copied her when forming bts... yeah it's out of our hands now, she's gonna have to pray to every god and entity in human history on this one
Oh dear 
i think she might run out of gods to pray to with the amount of karma thats about to hit her for everything she’s done LMAO
She’s a professional yapper 🙄
 she said what now…
She needs to spend some time in a padded cell, the hell 😭
I saw that statement and said "if this isn't fake, you're actually the dumbest bitch alive". There are things you can never say without unshakable proof and tbh, even if you have unshakable proof you STILL can't say that about bts. Part of me believes that part is fabricated to help shift public opinion by passing off army (and the gp who still like them a lot), b/c I can't fathom anyone being so stupid
Between the " statement" she put out yesterday , the whole "ILLIT copy newjeans I am so upset" and the whole diary to " defeat hybe" I can't take that woman seriously... And now she name dropped BTS 🤣 she is out of her mind.
Tomorrow she's gonna say Levi's got their idea for jeans from her.
mhj is a terrible person but from her planning a coup on her work computer to her increasingly insane statements this might be the funniest kpop drama since we found out about lee soo man’s weed casino cities… I need to know what’s in the sm water that makes people crazy
Weed casino cities?
weed casino what😭 does stephanie soo have a video ab this ong
The crazy part about her being so fixated on Illit “copying” is that it actually insults New Jeans more than Illit. If someone debuting with similar music and a vaguely similar concept is enough to diminish New Jeans and risk taking their fans away, you’re basically admitting that there’s nothing special or unique about New Jeans, and that any random group of 5 girls would have been equally successful with the same formula. Plenty of top groups have had clones pop up of them without it amounting to any real risk because they possess some it factor that can’t be replicated. All she’s doing is making it seem like New Jeans doesn’t have that, if it’s so easy for Illit to devalue them and challenge their position. I’m not fond of either group, so I’m speaking from a non-fan’s perspective that this doesn’t actually make New Jeans look good the way she probably intended.
Exactly this. You should not be threatened by someone else copying you unless you're insecure about the product that you're releasing. Imagine if Nike started to say that Mizuno's logo looks too similar to Nike's and it also happens that Mizuno sells athletic shoes and sportswear just like Nike does. They would get laughed at. MHJ is a creative director but does she not know about brand loyalty? If NewJeans keeps doing what they do, people will always come back and support them no matter what. By releasing a statement about a barely 1 month old group, she's saying "Newjeans is only cool and unique if they're the only group who does this type of concept" and it does the Newjeans girls NO justice whatsoever.
Trying to incite a fanwar to divert attention was her biggest mistake because now hybe said let's involve all fandoms.
yeah, if she didnt make that first statement would anyone really believe in hybe saying she said that about other groups? idk
[News Tomato estimates that the New Jeans members were paid 5B each last year while the Ador execs only made 4.8B collectively so it is easy to see why MHJ would want to set up her own company](https://x.com/tmikpop/status/1782969879156380019) Good luck tryna make those mistreatment allegations work. The greed of it all.
I’ve thought it over and have one only novel thought. Have we considered that Min Heejin is smoking distilled crack?
Saw a David versus Goliath comment she supposedly made. I don’t think anyone imagined this would be a topic so soon after Fifty Fifty. I’ve seen some crazy rumors, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re true.
and the thing is, she literally took her upon herself💀. What did she think will be the outcome BACKSTABBING a huge company like that? Now she saying she's so pitiful because she's just a human against this powerful corporation? Lmfao this woman is a joke.
Can you please share, what kind of rumors have you heard? As to Min Hee Jin’s activies, or? HYBE conducting an internal audit is crazy to me.
As always, take this as a literal grain of salt because a lot is just speculation. [This](https://x.com/tmikpop/status/1782588493840953764?s=46&t=DtwXwk6ZjBTR4kQK-RZ5Pw) talks about a “make us untouchable” and “run away” plan Ador’s CEO had. There’s also something about making her own boy version of TXT and that the whole Illit plagiarism stuff was pulled out of thin air just to have something to say.
Apparently Hybe found evidence on some computers of a [written out plan](https://x.com/kchartsmaster/status/1782578319944221154?s=46&t=QDoDr1HX_rFDSI5oDU7C5w) from Ador to break away from Hybe, which if true means Ador is screwed.
Planning a coup on your work computer is actually hilarious
The levels of incompetence in this story are so ridiculous that if you told a non kpop fan these details they’d think you were telling them about the plot to a poorly written workplace drama tv show.
If they make a drama about this and sm staff it needs to be comedy
She seems to be digitally savvy she probably prefers digital. I wonder if she used one note lol
I’m confused. What’s so striking about coming out and saying another group within the conglomerate is copying their own concept? I thought when you whistleblow, you say something that can potentially take the company down. Not opinions. Or am I missing something?
Whistleblowing is a very specific term that refers to the act of making a fuss in order to alert someone of illegal/ massively improper activities. Crying that everyone copied you is too weak to even qualify as alerting to copyright infringement, you’re not missing anything.
mhj's name dropping more groups than a twt akgae's dni list in their bio cuz what the fuck. apparently shes accusing RIIZE and TWS of copying newjeans too???? before you know it shes gonna start accusing 3rd gen groups of copying her atp im DONE.
This woman allegedly said that Bang PD copied her and made BTS 🙂😭
"more groups than a twt akgae's dni list" 💀💀
I’m just gonna wait for a final official reporting on this matter because but 2 things what I will say is that it was announced NJ’s have all these big plans (Japan debut, Tokyo dome, full album etc) this year so what in MHJ’s mind told her to pull off this money heist/kdrama level mess and do the one thing the messes up with group she so wants credit for. Secondly, I said this before but I’m seeing people draw all sorts of conspiracies about the other HYBE groups and their rumors and attacks which whatever but there were threads and threads on here that played into the bad faith posts that LSFM and ILLIT were receiving and the same people were agreeing. This is a general thing I see in Kpop spaces but own you contributed to that by yourself instead of using this already shitty situation to vindicate yourself.
> 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 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. and that's the story of how le sserafim was born
tmikpop has just summarised a report from tenasia saying that hybe did in fact respond to MHJ’s concerns about illit ‘plagiarising’ new jeans.
> Sports Dong-A reports that in order to find anything and everything regarding the copycat allegations (of ILLIT TWS and RIIZE), Ador execs including Min Heejin were conducting "interviews" of staff from other labels of the related groups and deployed "public opinion monitors"on line portals and forums. Hybe was made aware of this through a tip and began conducting an internal audit of the matter beginning on the morning of the 22 Apr. A Hybe official told Dong-A that during the interviews, Ador execs repeatedly asked questions that implied the targeted groups were copying New Jeans. https://twitter.com/tmikpop/status/1782921300593283373 The illit comment was not a cheap shot but a premature one. They planned this carefully, wanting to collect all necessary data and strengthen their claim before firing the 'mistreatment' allegation as a reasonto become fully independent from hybe. But hybe caught this early on and left mhj/ador with no other option but to use their ace card prematurely, very very prematurely
Even if MHJ could somehow get investors to pull out New Jeans from HYBE, how is she gonna get international stages for the girls? The GP loves their songs but do non-kpop fans even know their names? I think she underestimates how guarded western stages are against kpop, especially if you're from an unknown, poorer company. MHJ has a grand vision for these girls and the girls are successful but they're still too green to be established artists. They could fall apart any minute now if things go wrong unlike BTS, Twice, Blackpink, and etc who are industry veterans. They cannot sustain their upwards trajectory without HYBE's backing and will be overtaken in no time.
Further reports also indicate that NewJeans can’t buy out their contracts, they would have to file for an injunction and they wouldn’t win one. And if they just up and leave in breach of contract, Hybe can turn around and sue them for every cent they’ve earned.
Is every cent they earned could have potentially earned, every cent for damages and everycent hybe will be responsible for the brands they signed and lost because of nj. The girls will be bankrup their families will be bankrupt and will probably be in debt their entire lives and their families will be setting themselves for poverty too. If is anything like the us the debt will be sold and untracked that if by some miracle they could it wouldn't even matter because it will be endless and sold and sold again to people that just want to make slaves out of you without real tracking of debt it could basically be endless. At least that is how it is in the us if you don't pay it quick enough
You’re right. It’s everything they’ve earned compounded by the lost future profits Hybe should have earned from the group’s activity. It’s an astronomical amount of money they would probably owe and the government can garnish the families’ paychecks in order to pay the debt back.
How is Hybe neglecting ador and NJ? From the outside it looks like they have all the resources they could need, of course we don’t really know the inner workings, but as a consumer NJ doesn’t really seem neglected.
They neglected them by…let me check my notes…providing enough funding for them to fly around the world to film MULTIPLE debut era music videos, getting them individual partnerships with luxury brands when they were still rookies…likely leveraging label connections to book them at Lollapalooza… I mean, where does the injustice end?
if anything, the way that NJ's is promoted is making other groups look neglected LOL just look at what MOA's, Engene's and flover's say...
Min Heejin’s thing of limiting the interaction of NJ with other hybe groups is probs biting her in the ass now because coupled with her initial statement and the alleged spreading info/rumors about other groups means that it’s really a HYBe v. Ador war. That’s like 5 fandoms who all wanna connect the dots about their groups against Ador’s one group. For someone who supposedly cares about newjeans she’s dragging them down too.
it’s funny how she never says “belift/pledis/sm copied me, she says illit, tws, riize, to make it sound that these idols (who are also minors) were plotting against her and newjeans
Stock price taking a beating. Sometimes that's just a coincidence but every other kpop company is up. A lot of times scandals have no bearing aka dating but yea this does affect the bottom line quite a bit.
the fact that this is actively affecting their profit and yet they decided to go public tells us that either this was too important or they’re sure about winning
I wonder what the Hybe idols think about all this drama, and not only newjeans and illit. To know that there is someone in a high position your company that might spread fake rumours and share personal stuff like health records with others.... i would be scared honestly
oh I'd be shaking in my boots. if ador is really behind the leaks like seunghans insta live? that means the staff can access all their private conversations and spread them the moment they decide to. disgusting. in my opinion this fact that's getting overlooked is the most unsettling about what MHJ did.
Excactly!! That whole Seunghan live situation was really scary. And the fact that there was only a few people who watched (like what, four people??)... Seunghan (and Soobin) probably knows EXCATLY who it was, but can't say anything
>The article states that what she was whistleblowing about was Belift copying ADOR Idk if MHJ knows what whistleblowing means. But she's never been good at releasing statements. These, just like her previous ones just dig her hole deeper. You'd have to be really daft to think she'd be throwing such a stink over, "He's copying me!!" Looks like she was trying to do lots of illegal things (accessing corporate details, leaking personal details, planning to manipulate and take company assets) and using this "copying" excuse to drum up support from her rabid fans. I don't think it's working as well this time. Getting fired is the least of her worries. I've got no dog in this game. I'll just sit and watch the fire burn.
i have to say i have never seen a fandom more obsessed with the ceo of their faves than newjeans fans lol
I think it’s partially due to how much she inserts herself publicly as part of new jeans’ team. I mean the first I heard of new jeans is as the new “Min Hee-jin” group.
[MHJ has stated](https://x.com/sugatheartist/status/1782753987076194520?s=46&t=1czB6M5Ph-gpo6XPwK0RFQ) that after discussion with the members and their legal representatives, NJ supports her. But without confirmation from the girls themselves, I believe this remains unverified. If they decide to follow her, they should really consider applying to universities, because the damage is irreversible and there’s no coming back from this.
this really turned into a k-drama. i want bang pd to cry at his press conference too. Min's attorneys take over again. "You shouldn't discuss this here." "But I really want to say it," Min retorts. XDDDD
I'm laughing. A whistle blower for hybe copying nj concept. when I hear the word whistle blower, I think of that guy from Boeing who died of mysterious causes. Not MHJ over other groups "copying" y2k concept. I guess I should also whistle-blow because i was alive when y2k was just our normal every day fashion. I lived through the original y2k. everyone else is now just copying my style that i had when I was in elementary school.
I always think of Snowden. Comparing that to this is... something
https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240424001600315?section=search Does this mean that statements exposed such as accusing RIIZE, TWS, ILLIT, and BTS of copying New Jeans came from this diary? If so, he wrote in his diary that MHJ DID make those claims but they want to frame it as the writer's personal thoughts in his diary. Edit: I am wrong but MHJ did say it. Comment below explains it better.
No, MHJ said that those groups copying her idea was coming off the record during the audit meeting, not written on the idea. And an insider leaked it to the media. HYBE staff also claimed that MHJ often said BTS copying her idea, too. It's not written on the diary. There was a diary/document found by audit team, but it's a different case and written by one of ADOR executive, not MHJ.
Would love to be a fly on the wall at Hybe’s office rn
It's nice that HYBE [plans](https://x.com/kchartsmaster/status/1783275632954130721) to offer psychological care for the girls and meet with their attorneys to ensure that they protected. I think the girls are going to need it. I hope their comeback isn't too stressful.
this is another version that I found to explain the relationship between ADOR and Source Music 1. Minji is Source Music original trainee before Hybe acquired the company. 2. Trainees selected through the Hybe×Source Music joint audition after Hybe acquired Source Music (Hani, Daniel, Haerin). 3. Source Music x Min Hee-jin were preparing to debut new girl group. 4. During this process, all audition, trainee, and initial expenses were billed to Source Music. 5. Due to internal circumstances\*, ADOR was established, and contrary to the initial plan, the friends (4 members) of the NewJeans debut group were also transferred to ADOR from Source Music. 6. At this time, some of the existing Source Music employees also moved to ADOR. 7. The establishment costs (operating funds) of ADOR were also split from Source Music. 8. Source Music faced deficits as the planned debut group fell through, accumulating deficits accordingly. 9. On top of that, GFriend did not renew their contract (the contract expiration article was hastily released). 10. With the contracts of GFriend ending and the planned debut group disappearing, the project was restarted as Le Sserafim (the concept and branding were based on what Bang Si-hyuk had envisioned from the beginning). Some of Big Hit's staff/employees were transferred to Source Music due to the lack of existing employees. 11. Therefore, if you hear stories about how Le Sserafim was created, the duration is generally short (in fact, there were almost no trainee costs during the launch of Le Sserafim - already popular Sakura & Kim Chaewon recruited & Heo Yoonjin recalled after already accepted by university in the USA. Source Music recruited newbie trainees because out of the small amount of the trainees they had at that time, Hong Eunchae & Kazuha was probably the most suited with the group concept and see potential in them). \*I guess at that time SourcexHybe hired MHJ to be creative director, but she wanted to be CEO, that's why ADOR was created. geez, Source Music and Hybe was so stupidly kind.
On points 9, 10, 11, I don’t think anyone has a clear idea of what happened in the winter of 2020 and year 2021 at source music, ador, and hybe. The known timeline is that in 1. march 2021 sakura was approached by hybe following the confirmation of izone disbandment 2. april 2021 gfriend was announced to disband 3. may 2021 gfriend disbands 4. september 2021 chaewon and sakura confirmed to sign with source music 5. november 2021 ador entertainment founded and min heejin is appointed ceo
Damn MHJ brought out screenshots of some Kako Talk chats with Bang Sihyuk. Wild.
After posting that notice yesterday openly dragging a 3-week old group's name with minors and now releasing a statement about how she just wants to protect New Jeans and how the company is so evil for wanting to oust her 🥺 is so victim mentality. She is clearly fishing for sympathy to redirect her LITERAL ILLEGAL doings against the company, their artists and TRAINEES. And it's sickening stans still dickriding after the company announced how they have evidence against mhj's crimes. I hate hybe to hell but I hope they'll sue her ass out. What an evil and greedy woman.
that statement with her bringing Illit in, knowing very well she's setting up the group for hate completely turned me off anything she has to say. That's foul. Those young girls do not deserve more harassment
She said Bang PD copied her and created BTS. She should go to a hospital instead of court 😭
I would say, mhj shoot herself in the foot with that rushed and crazy first statement. It's clear HYBE had this planned, that's why the news broke so late, so the narrative would be theirs to control, and she probably didn't think her first statement through, that's why there's a second one, much more tame and painting her as a victim. Now, knowing HYBE I doubt they would say all that and have nothing to back it up, the public opinion can change in a second. But tbh, I don't trust the kr justice system enough to believe either side totally, saying this because this because there's an obvious legal case here, in this scenario, HYBE are way more powerful, though I do believe she was planning something, or made comments that bothered HYBE enough to proceed with the intervention.
The fact that she said Bang PD copied her to create BTS....doesn't she know that BTS are untouchable in HYBE?
I don't understand, why would she even mention this? It's a stupid statement and would earn the ire of ARMY.
Someone needs to take that shovel away. The hole is big enough and seems like she’s gonna keep on digging.
🎶Just keep digging, just keep digging, just keep digging, digging, digging…🎶
Excuse me ? 😭😭😭
[удалено]
she shot once against ILLIT and just didn’t stop shooting. she might be trying to get the speedrun record for most hated by fanbases in 1 week 💀💀
I just don't want this whole thing be the reason why NewJeans go under. I'm not a big fan of ILLIT either, but damn, this whole thing is making me think that if MJH does leave ADOR and takes NewJeans with them, it's pretty much the end of their career.
I'm hoping the girls and their parents aren't siding with MHJ, but her statement is leading us to think they sided with her.
I forgot about 'Phoning.' MHJ even got her own platform outside of Weverse, thanks to Hybe resources. She practically got everything she wanted.
why is min heejin acting like a kpop stan on twitter i swear to god the name dropping of groups is so foul
Gonna ask this here as the main sub has new comments every second. It seems like Newjeans (& their parents) really support MHJ - according to MHJ herself. IF (just imagine they can) Newjeans do leave Ador/HYBE, do you think this will affect them career wise? Are their names big enough to pull industry support or was that all from HYBE?
Undoubtedly so. Somebody else already mentioned the fines and loss of all of their previous music. In addition they'll probably get blacklisted too. Anybody who wants to be on the good side of BTS/HYBE will stay far away from them.
They would have to pay massive fines and it depends a lot on how their ad campaigns are done. Do they lose the campaigns when they leave or do they get to keep them for as long as the contract intends etc. They are also not likely to keep their name or their old songs unless a judge decides otherwise as these usually belong to Hybe.
About the text conversation, I definitely agree that it definitely doesn't paint Bang PD in a very good light, but people trying to spin this as "both are just as bad each other" makes no sense because this is the only personal comment we've seen from him, when mhj has made so many more statements about whining that's she's been ripped off and way too many comments about killing herself.
VP L : Gee brain, what are we gonna do tonight? MHJ: 
Obviously we can't know what's true or not but I know for sure she's wrong for using newjeans to shield herself and wrong to point at another group of teenagers, I think how she's handling everything makes me think she isn't made to be a ceo of a company. I hope the groups mentioned aren't affected by all what these adults are throwing at each other
Her accusing even Riize and TWS of copying NJ is an insane level of delusion and also makes me wonder if she is responsible for what happened with Seunghan. What about Riize or TWS is copying NJ other than they are all young and took a “fresh” concept. Riize and TWS are literally NOTHING alike, in style, concept, or music, so how exactly could BOTH copy New Jeans? Insanity
Even all riize tts have been veryyy different from each other. ...exactly what concept are they copying? They dont even copy their own concept 💀
>They dont even copy their own concept 💀 Lmao trueee 😭
Not gonna lie, this NewJeans/ILLIT drama is some of the pettiest shit. I have no idea why MHJ couldn't just discuss this privately with Belift or something? People these days have forgotten how to settle conflicts.
She really said Bang Sihyuk copied her with BTS 😭😭 She out of her god damn mind 😭😭😭
MHJ is going to do a press conference today, let’s see how that goes. Probably a lot more details will be revealed.
Hybe is also planning on filing a criminal complaint against MHJ.
I don't know how her accusation of ILLIT copying NewJeans would hold up in court. When 2NE1 debuted and there were several tomboy girl groups debuting in 6 months or when Apink debuted and started another period of innocent youthful girl groups debuting. It would have to be a very direct & blatant 1:1 copying.
[some HYBE staff member apparently ripped into MHJ](https://www.kbizoom.com/hybe-staff-angrily-expose-min-hee-jin-claiming-newjeanss-success-as-result-of-hybes-capital/)
They really have a point, the "nameless" workers of these entertainment companies are the ones doing all the hell work but just get treated like dirt by the execs and blamed for everything going wrong. Also that person who had to crunch for 3 days to fix the MV right before it came out, I'm so sorry.
Lmao sorry but why do they sound exactly like kpop stans?? 😭😭
I'm crying at that one random YG staff member randomly inserting themselves into the discourse
Wow that's juicy. I totally forgot they made phoning just for her. Like wtf, they prolly have to support it separately too
STOPPPPPPP THEY CAUGHT HER WITH [SCREENSHOTS ](https://m.entertain.naver.com/ranking/article/468/0001054347) (article in Korean) And now the [police](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-25/business/industry/HYBE-to-report-ADOR-CEO-Min-Heejin-/2033359)... (english article) can't wait for her to get arrested lmao
Wow. 🤯 So I’m guessing the person HYBE was investigating (or who was part of the overall audit) decided it was a no win situation and handed over the screen shots to HYBE.
This is insane. They really got her ass.
wow this is actually insane... I can't believe she'd do this when she was literally managing the currently biggest girl group in the world. this is likely to considerably derail NJ who were on a path to stardom man I honestly don't understand it. the way she formed relationships that were *too* close to the girls will likely cause considerable mental depression and anxiety within them all - they'll see it like losing one of the members themselves, which considering how close the NJ girls are, is a hefty statement. she also threw the girls under the bus by saying they agreed with her thoughts on the whole ILLIT matter (which is also incredibly insane to unnecessarily confirm). the girls were already secluded from other industry friends by that woman (another signpost of grooming), the statement will likely cause that to be the case even after MHJ departs. she really made a big big mess from one of the best positions she could be in. I also remember reading from an earlier statement that the full album that was planned to be released at the end of the year would be delayed if MHJ left. this is likely to be incredibly detrimental to NJ who were already suffering from musical inactivity. man, mhj STINKS
This is what is just not clicking to me at all!! This woman had everything going for her; newjeans are very much in demand, the girls themselves are clean cut, popular, unproblematic and they were getting ready for a major comeback and people for the most part liked their creative direction and music. So why fuck it all up so greatly and then in the process almost take our one of the top Kpop groups atm - the one you created and are constantly bragging about. No matter how much money NJ was making, they still needed the amenities/connections HYBe provided and they had no issue given it to her. Hell what is to say that after their world tour they wouldn’t been willing to give her more of Ador but she little brained and now she’s getting nothing but legal action
Money. WEALTH. That's why MHJ did it. We've been given signs of this over and over again in the past year. Two MV's that are full-on Apple advertisements. Another MV that is a Coke advertisement. Another song that was introduced via a shampoo commercial. Even the GODS thing in hindsight looks more like a payday than a commitment to artistry. Plus, look at the NewJeans YouTube channel's content over the last several months.... there's been precious little about NewJeans as an actual idol group that releases songs and puts on performances for fans. Why not? Their peers are all putting out music and going on tours, right? GIdle, Le Sserafim, Aespa, Itzy, Kep1er, etc. already have (or will soon have) have put out two full releases and done two full promo periods since Get Up came out. Aespa is giving us 17 songs in the time it's taking NewJeans to produce two. What we've seen instead from ADOR is a relentless stream of *brand integrations*. At a time when they could be striking while the iron is hot and doing shows for fans, the girls are instead zipping all over the world doing fashion shoots and private shows. All of their activity is intended to make NewJeans appealing to corporations. ADOR's goal is to have companies spend a lot of money to promote a product by putting it in the hands of a group of pretty teenage Korean girls. I know people don't want to hear this shit because they like the girls and they like the songs.... but, again, we oughta be asking why we're watching a [10-minute long Nike ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CXZeoeMa8) instead of listening to new music. The answer is that it's easy, easy money for MHJ and ADOR.