This article is part of our coverage of HYBE vs. ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin. You can read more and view the entire timeline here.
In the ongoing rift between HYBE and ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin, the two most popular girl groups under the labels LE SSERAFIM and NewJeans have gotten pushed into a tug-of-war after Min claimed that HYBE gave preferential treatment to the former.
Min’s initial allegations said that HYBE made LE SSERAFIM the first girl group to debut under its umbrella when that position was promised to ADOR’s group, NewJeans. She also accused the company of ignoring the latter group’s management. This claim made netizens scrutinize the difference between the two groups’ treatment by HYBE, and some found discrepancies here and there. For example, netizens noticed that Bang Si Hyuk, the founder and chairman of HYBE, has never posted a picture with the NewJeans members even though he did so with all other HYBE groups.
Recently, after the parents of NewJeans members accused Chairman Bang of ignoring NewJeans members during face-to-face run-ins, netizens found further instances of him being just the opposite with LE SSERAFIM.
In this context, an old video featuring some of the LE SSERAFIM members has also resurfaced, prompting more backlash. The video is from February when LE SSERAFIM’s Sakura and Yunjin appeared on Eunchae’s Star Diary, a web variety show hosted by their youngest member, Eunchae.
In that episode, the members received a fan question that asked which one of them was the closest to Bang Si Hyuk. The fan also dared the members to text Bang personally and see who got the fastest response.
Sakura texted him to ask if he was following their promotional activities, while Yunjin sent him a cheeky selfie with a thank-you message. Eunchae, on the other hand, sent him a sweet message asking him to beware of the cold.
The members then got busy chatting, and eventually, the three of them received their replies from Bang. Yunjin got his response after 38 minutes, Sakura after 39 minutes, and Eunchae after 40 minutes.
While at the time of the video’s upload, it received positive reactions from fans, now it has become a source of fuel to flame the ongoing controversy. Many felt that it was obvious Bang Si Hyuk had a close relationship with the LE SSERAFIM members, which only made his alleged mistreatment of NewJeans more infuriating to many.
Meanwhile, HYBE has responded to the accusations of Bang Si Hyuk purposefully ignoring NewJeans. You can read more about it here.
Source: Nate News
