Previously, NewJeans’ Hanni claimed that a HYBE manager told their artists to ignore her when they met at the company’s salon. However, Hanni did not reveal the artists’ name, nor did she give any hint to who these artists may be.
However, when HYBE later released an official statement, the company countered Hanni’s claim by saying that they reviewed a 7-8 minutes interaction between Hanni and girl group ILLIT, before confirming that ILLIT members and Hanni greeted each other and the manager did not make the alleged problematic statement.
This statement effectively exposed ILLIT as the other party in Hanni’s accusation, bringing negative attention to the girl group, regardless of the company’s other claim.
On top of all that, ILLIT already sustained damages from previous “copying NewJeans” accusations, so the mention of their names only dealt a heavier blow.
As a result, many netizens criticize HYBE for being ILLIT to the forefront, adding that HYBE’s statement would be effective even without exposing the group’s name.
Below are some comments from netizens:
- They’re crazy. Why would they expose the group when Hanni herself didn’t say who it was. Also, how would a CCTV capture what the manager said? Seriously, they are the best at using their artists as a shield.”
- Stop defending HYBE when this company is the one to bring ILLIT into this controversy on their own
- They really reveal the group name… Is this what HYBE calls protecting their artists?
- Remember the Belift Lab’s position video during the NewJeans copy controversy? Uploading it only brought more criticism to ILLIT, and this company has never helped ILLIT at all. Rather, they’ve only stirred up more trouble that could have been resolved on its own if they just stayed still. So, why do some of you believe that HYBE will protect their idols?
- HYBE is really annoying
- The CCTV isn’t even close and it probably covers the entire hallway, so how can you tell that the manager didn’t say to ignore Hanni??
Source: Pann Nate