While ILLIT is dogged by rumors that they copied NewJeans, another controversy has engulfed them after Bunnies discovered Belift Lab’s previous report proving members had been rigged during the “RU Next?” transmission.
In April, former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin raised allegations that Belift Lab’s ILLIT is a copycat of his team, NewJeans, and for the past 6 months the labels have been fighting against each other to prove and defend your position.
On November 12, then, Team Bunnies, supporters of NewJeans, released crucial information that not only exposed Belift Lab’s lies, but sparked another ILLIT manipulation issue.
Hi, I’m Team Bernese.
We confirm Hankyoreh’s exclusive article reported on November 11 regarding plagiarism in Belif Lab’s New Genes plan.Through a tipster, we obtained comparative data between a Belif Lab artist’s plan and the old Adore New Jeans plan before the government audit, but we hope the audit process proceeds fairly… pic.twitter.com/SA2MmwkpoL
— Tim Bernese (@NewJeansSTRM) November 12, 2024
In a retrieved internal document, Belift Lab stated through Korean media on October 11 that ILLIT’s strategy and concepts had already been finalized on July 21, 2023. If this is true, this will prove that they did not copy the “plan conceptual” leaked by NewJeans on August 28, 2023.
However, Bunnies questioned this detail, as a comprehensive concept plan should include finalized members, profile pictures, average age, and more. Considering this it would be impossible to present a definitive plan since “RU Next?” of JTBC, the program for which ILLIT was created, did not air its finale until September 1st.
What is most suspicious about this is that the collage photo used to announce the final 6 members was initially thought to have been randomly created by the Korean press, but, surprisingly, it was an official press photo shared by Belift Lab.
BELIFT/ILLIT Proposal Plan.
Kim Taeho and BELIFT REFUTED that the plan was made on October 11th, which ultimately means that the lineup concept had already been decided based on the members’ ethnicity and average age on July 21st, and therefore it show was RIGGED 🤔 https:/ /t.co/y58L26vAcK pic.twitter.com/v59mh24Iab
— ☘︎ (@nwjnsbts) November 12, 2024
READ ALSO: ILLIT Minju criticized for inviting Sana to her show TWICE: ‘Don’t meddle with them’
Seeing this, K-pop stans only have two guesses as to what really happened; first, Belift Lab lied about completing the proposal in July, or second, the selection of members from the show was manipulated even before its final episode.
Here are the reactions of netizens:
- “So would you rather be a rigged band or a copycat band?”
- “Either you admit that you plagiarized or fabricated the proposal. Or…maybe HYBE did both?”
- “Wow, Belift Lab is shameless. How can they sue Min Hee Jin after doing something like that?”
- “Please disband the ILLITs.”
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
