Previously, NewJeans’ Hanni claimed that a HYBE manager told their artists to ignore her when they met at the company’s show. However, Hanni did not reveal the names of the artists, nor did she give any clues as to who they might be.
However, when HYBE later released an official statement, the company countered Hanni’s claim by saying that it had reviewed a 7-8 minute interaction between Hanni and girl group ILLIT, before confirming that the ILLIT members and Hanni had greeted each other and that the manager had not made the allegedly problematic statement.
This statement effectively exposed ILLIT as the other party implicated in Hanni’s allegations, drawing negative attention to the girl group, regardless of the company’s other claims.
On top of all this, ILLIT had already suffered damage from previous “NewJeans copycat” allegations, so the mention of their names only dealt an even greater blow.
As a result, many netizens criticize HYBE for putting ILLIT at the forefront, adding that HYBE’s statement would be effective even without revealing the group’s name.
Here are some comments from Internet users:
- They are crazy. Why would they expose the group when Hanni herself didn’t say who she was. Also, how could a CCTV camera record 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 dragging ILLIT into this controversy all by itself
- They actually reveal the name of the group… Is this what HYBE calls protecting their artists?
- Remember the Belift Lab position video during the NewJeans copy controversy? Uploading it only brought more criticism to ILLIT, and this company never helped ILLIT at all. Instead, they just created more problems that could have been solved by themselves if they had just stood still. So why do some of you believe that HYBE will protect your idols?
- HYBE is really annoying
- The surveillance cameras aren’t even remotely visible and probably cover the entire hallway, so how do you know the director didn’t tell Hanni to ignore?
Source: Pann Nate
