On January 14, SM Entertainment announced the artist lineup for its 30th anniversary album, out next month. Among the still active artists launched by the label since 1995, only the boy group SHINee will not participate.
This immediately raised suspicions that the problem was due to BPM gatekeeper Taemin not fulfilling his commitments to his group.
The claim came about when the CEO of Griffin, Onew’s new label, made an Instagram Stor in which he hinted at intercompany issues that supposedly limit the entire SHINee group’s activity, despite their desire for Onew to be with them .
In a now-deleted post, the CEO implied that he wasn’t referring to SM, prompting fans to speculate that he was targeting BPM.
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Afterwards, Shawols (SHINee fans) started calling out the company on the online forum theqoo, accusing them of canceling Taemin’s commitments with his fellow members.
As the issue escalated, Taemin also faced backlash, with some netizens accusing him of neglecting SHINee’s activities to prioritize his solo career.
On January 15, BPM finally released its official position to refute the allegations against both the label and its artist.
“We have always supported and encouraged SHINee’s activities, for which Taemin has great affection. At the same time, we spare no effort in providing full support so that the artist can receive fair treatment and continue to promote their activities .
We will continue to actively support Taemin so that he can continue to shine as a solo artist and as a member of SHINee, and will do our best to protect the artist so that Taemin can become a bigger artist.”
BPM also warned malicious commenters that legal action would be taken against them.
Meanwhile, some Shawol also defended the CEO of Griffin and Onew, who were also targeted by Taemin’s fans for hurting him and adding heat to the issue with his cryptic messages.
Onew fans went on to clarify that the theqoo post distorted its CEO’s words and posted the label’s full chats to justify that it never blamed BPM or Taemin.
Because Griffin’s CEO was worried about us changing what he said, I translated all of his comments. This was a live chat room for Onew’s new release and Griffin’s CEO joined and chatted with Onew fans.
It’s up to you whether you choose to believe the members or the Griffin CEO https://t.co/47Jw6iU1KB pic.twitter.com/2R0QfmcJ1F— Taylor🫐🕯️ (@xoalstay) January 14, 2025
Complete part of Jangㅡ CEO chat so you guys don’t make a fuss about the partially edited chat
Please review it carefully as it is a long post and may contain some inaccuracies as I am not a native speaker and am open to discussion for the error
Everyone is a winner!!
Raise your head… https://t.co/OAsigOmdhH— far🍀 (@parixxe_) January 14, 2025
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