The Seoul Central District Court held a hearing on ADOR’s request for a preliminary injunction to preserve their status as NewJeans’ agency and prevent them from signing advertising contracts. Let’s find out what happened.
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The “Ignore” Incident and Workplace Harassment Allegations
ADOR strongly denied claims that they mistreated NewJeans at the court hearing. They pointed out that they’d invested a huge amount of money, 21 billion won ($14.5 million), in the group since 2018. They argued that it wouldn’t make sense for them to then neglect or harass the group they’d worked so hard to build, especially given NewJeans’ success.
A key point of contention was a supposed incident where NewJeans member Hani was said to have “ignored” another group, ILLIT. ADOR presented video evidence from May of last year showing ILLIT members politely greeting NewJeans members Hani and Danielle. They emphasized that the ILLIT members bowed respectfully.
Crucially, ADOR revealed that the “ignore” comment didn’t come from Hani at all. They shared a conversation where ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin asked Hani if ILLIT’s manager had told them not to greet NewJeans. Hani replied that she wasn’t sure. Hani also clarified, in English, that each ILLIT member did greet them as they passed. So, ADOR is saying the whole story about Hani ignoring ILLIT was fabricated by Min Hee Jin.
Mourning Ribbon Controversy
Another point of dispute was the mourning ribbons worn during a Japanese awards show. NewJeans attended the 66th Annual Record Awards in Japan on December 30th last year, with plans to wear mourning ribbons for the victims of the tragedy.
However, ADOR representatives advised against it, fearing that the Japanese broadcast would be flooded with questions and disrupted if they wore them. NewJeans said they reached out to Japanese broadcasters and received approval to wear the ribbons. Despite ADOR not providing the ribbons, member Hani took it upon herself to make one and wore it during their performance.
Other girl groups under the HYBE labels, including ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM, wore standard mourning ribbons during the same event. NewJeans expressed that they felt “nearly targeted for criticism” and said the incident showed how HYBE and ADOR treated NewJeans behind the scenes.
HYBE responded to these allegations, stating, “There was no reason for the company to prevent artists from wearing mourning ribbons.” They explained that they were reviewing mourning ribbon policies for all their artists at the time and had to consider the differences between Korean and Japanese broadcasting norms and culture. They said they communicated with the Japanese broadcasters beforehand to ensure subtitles and explanations were included. They explained, “All artists expressed their intention to wear ribbons, and we offered the same ribbons to NewJeans. However, NewJeans chose to wear the ribbons they had prepared themselves, and we respected that decision.”
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