In a truly disturbing story, the latest episode of JTBC‘s Scandal Supervisor featured a member of a rookie girl group detailing the sexual assault and harassment she suffered at the hands of her own company’s CEO.
In an audio statement taken on October 26, the idol — described as a multinational rookie girl group — recounted telling the CEO she wished to leave the group, after which the CEO propositioned her.
I told him that it was my wish to leave the group after the round of activities [we were doing]. He asked that if he granted my wish, would I also grant his wish? He wanted me to be his one-day girlfriend.
She then described a series of disturbing events she was allegedly forced into due to the CEO.
He asked if he could kiss me, but then he grabbed me and forced me to kiss him. I kept my mouth shut, but he suddenly forced his tongue in and kept kissing me, he also licked my neck and ears.
I was so focused on protecting [down here] but he said to move my hands and kept touching me.
He asked ‘can I touch your breasts?’ and ‘can I feel your butt just this one time?’
I said no, but he kept doing this for two hours.
She says she initially accepted thinking it would just be a normal date, but it quickly escalated.
She initially accepted the CEO’s offer because she thought it would be like a normal date, going to a restaurant to eat and then watching a movie. She also wanted to make sure she could continue to participate in the group’s activities until she left. But the CEO suddenly locked the office door and groped her. He would force kisses on her during the time they were watching a movie. And he refused her denial attempts to get out of the situation.
The agency themselves doesn’t deny that the proposition happened, they just deny there was any sexual assault.
The agency has refuted the allegations, claiming that the member herself proposed a deal, “The member asked to remain in the group and offered to act as the CEO’s ‘girlfriend for a day’ in exchange.“
The lawyer for the agency also admitted there’s video footage of the two in a car together, but denies anything inappropriate happened.
The fact that the company admits to the “girlfriend for a day” thing in exchange for a favor is insane to me. How is that even a defense? A much older male CEO taking out one of his much-younger (and a minor) employees on a date is already morally fucked.
——
Regardless, the CEO apparently realized this was messed up and apologized to the girl’s parents, who obviously rebuked him.
You have been watching over our children with ulterior motives. Haven’t you seen a lot of late-night movies with [female idol]?
In response to his claim that he only went with her to the movies once, the parents didn’t relent.
If they don’t follow your orders, they’re put at extreme disadvantages. From our point-of-view, this isn’t a punishment, this is torture for our children. You realize that she is still a minor, right?
The CEO eventually apologized and promised to resign while not contacting the members (though he might have to hang around due to investors or something), but three days later the parents spotted the CEO watching their performance and then saw him board a flight to Japan with the members, including sitting next to the member he allegedly sexually assaulted. After that, the victimized member went on hiatus.
The rest of the members apparently knew all this was going on, and a witness says the CEO threatened them with financial consequences.
He said ‘if this becomes public and the company closes or gets damages, do you know how much you have to pay in reparation? Do you want to continue with the group or not? Answer with an X or an O.’
Imagine how scared the members were that they answered with a triangle.
In addition to the agency arguing that the victim wasn’t a minor on a technicality, they also responded again by blaming the member while admitting the CEO hugged her.
There was no sexual contact or sexual harassment between the member and the CEO. In fact, the member had caused discord and controversy within the group numerous times.
It is true that the CEO had hugged her and tried to comfort her when she requested to continue working with the group, but this cannot be considered sexual contact.
Yeah … I mean I can’t see any world where I’m supposed to believe the CEO who admits to going on a date with a minor girl group member under his supervision and hugging her for comfort. Literally their own version of events is fucking disturbing enough as it is, much less what the alleged victim and her groupmates have had to endure. Forget getting them out of contracts or anything like that, at minimum this guy needs to be thoroughly investigated (especially if he’s been in charge of other groups) and never work in the industry again.
