NewJean’s Hanni testified against issues of bullying and harassment to the Labor Committee at the South Korean National Assembly on Tuesday. In her testimony, she accused the entertainment agency HYBE of deliberately undermining New Jeans and senior officials of deliberately ignoring her.
“I came to the realization that this wasn’t just a feeling.”, said Hanni, as mentioned by the BBC. “I was honestly convinced that the company hated us.”.
Hanni also called for the better treatment of younger and newer artists in the industry, saying “I hope trainees don’t suffer these incidents and that’s why I decided to appear”, as reported on by Reuters.
“I know it’s not going to solve all the problems in the world, but if we just respect each other, at least there will be no problems with bullying and harassment in the workplace,” Hanni said, choking back tears at times.”.
Hanni was called last month to present evidence after NewJeans opened up about allegations of mistreatment following the dismissal of their mentor, Min Hee-Jin.
Min is the co-founder of Ador, NewJean’s record label and a subsidiary of HYBE. She has been a massive part in NewJean’s success but was removed from her post in August after accusations of her planning to step down with HYBE and take NewJeans with her. Min would later deny these claims multiple times.
In September, NewJeans posted a video on a burner YouTube account where they demanded Min’s reinstatement and spoke out against claims of workplace harassment. Hanni recounted one incident where she greeted three members of another band at their record label office, and a manager told them to “ignore her”. According to Hanni, when she reported the incident, her concerns were brushed off.
“We have a floor in our building where we do hair and make-up. And at that time, I was waiting in the hallway because my hair and make-up was done first.”, recounted Hanni during her testimony. “I said hello to all of them, and then they came back about five or 10 minutes later.”
“On her way out, [the manager] made eye contact with me, turned to the rest of the group and said, ‘Ignore her like you didn’t see her.”
“I was told that because there wasn’t any evidence, there was nothing that could be done”, she said in the New York Times.
Hanni also mentioned that this wasn’t an isolated incident, and that other senior members have also given her the cold shoulder.
“Since my debut [in NewJeans], we ran into a person in a high-up position many times, but they never greeted me when I greeted them”, Hanni added. “I understood from living in Korea that I have to be polite to older people and that’s part of the culture – but I think it’s just disrespectful as a human being to not greet us, regardless of our professional status.”
“There was a certain vibe [of disrespect] that I felt within the company.”.
Hanni also claimed that she witnessed employees trash-talking NewJeans on the anonymous social media app Blind, and that HYBE’s PR team contacted an unnamed journalist, asking him to minimize NewJean’s accomplishments, and said that these events reinforced the feeling that “that the company hated us”. HYBE previously denied the accusations, and said that they were “attempting to correct a factual error”.
Ador’s current ceo, Kim Joo-young, was also present at Tuesday’s hearing. Kim said that she believed Hanni’s story, but was “unable to find supporting evidence”. According to Kim, “CCTV footage of the incident had expired before she had the chance to request it”, but she said that she would co-opt an investigation with South Korea’s Ministry of Labour.
The K-pop industry has become infamous for “tightly controlled and high-pressure narratives between artists, companies and the media”, according to Billboard, with idols often being held to impossibly high-standards and to uphold a squeaky-clean public image.
As mentioned by the The Korea Times, Min expressed her determination to move forward with NewJeans and their future plans despite current challenged, in an interview she had with a Japanese media outlet.
“I have a plan to overcome these challenges”, said Min.
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