HYBE and its key officials are facing massive backlash from K-pop fandoms after the leak of an internal monitoring report.
The 18000 pages long idol assessment report contains provocative claims, criticism of other K-pop groups, and derogatory comments about their appearances and skills.
While the report was made public for a short while on October 24, HYBE CEO Lee Jae Sang officially apologized for the controversial report on October 29. He apologized and stated that the opinions stated in the report were collected from social media communities
The apology came after SEVENTEEN member Seugkwan addressed the controversy in a lengthy Instagram post. In the report, HYBE’s plan to use Seungkwan to boost Joshua’s popularity after dating rumors with an influencer was revealed.
He bashed the management for thinking of “idols as pushovers” and “commodities for consumption.”
As per an exclusive report by Daily Sport on October 29, it was alleged that HYBE Chairman Bang Si Hyuk was directly involved in the distribution of the monitoring report.
Daily Sports uncovered evidence that Chairman Bang was directly involved in distributing the contentious document to HYBE’s C-level executives and affiliated labels. He allegedly instructed adding newly hired executives as recipients.
HYBE Chairman’s silence amidst the controversy has sparked criticism. Moreover, HYBE’s PR team declined to comment in response to the query by the Korean media outlets.
The agency’s measures to address the issue, including dismissing the author Mr. Kang, and halting the report, may be perceived as insufficient given Bang Si Hyuk’s involvement.
The frustration and anger among fandom is growing as many are calling for boycotts of HYBE.
