NewJeans is facing heavy backlash after revealing new claims against their agency ADOR in a July 24 Seoul Central District Court hearing.
The members are pushing to nullify their exclusive contracts with ADOR, stating they cannot return to the agency "in its current state." Their lawyer said just passing by the ADOR building forces the members to take antidepressants due to emotional distress.
NJZ’s legal team:
“The members want to continue their careers in the entertainment industry, but they do not want to do so under ADOR. Even just going near the ADOR building makes their hearts race and forces them to take antidepressants.”
A handwritten petition from the group compared their situation to school bullying victims, saying:
NJZ’s legal team:
“Telling us to go back to ADOR is like telling a school bullying victim to return to the place where their bully is. The staff who worked with us have already left, and ADOR is no longer genuinely listening to what we have to say. How loudly do we have to scream before someone realizes how much we’re hurting?”
The school bullying analogy sparked major outrage online. Netizens slammed the members as “hypocrites” and criticized the comparison as inappropriate.
Reactions from netizens include:
- “If they don’t want to stay, they can just pay the penalty and leave, right?”
- “This is seriously hopeless.”
- “The ones who should be on antidepressants are probably the other group who got criticized over kalguksu and were judged for being cold in their greetings.”
- “Wow, the hypocrisy is disgusting. If they had only blamed Bang Si Hyuk, maybe I’d understand. But they personally mistreated other idols and young rookie managers, exposed their identities, and caused such chaos that public accounts had to turn off comments… and now they’re pretending to be the victims? Give me a break.”
- “Only the members know what really went on internally, but just seeing how they ignored and treated the younger idols like they were invisible speaks volumes. You can tell everything from that one action. Other big-label boy group fans know HYBE quietly replaced top execs with long-serving staff in November, probably because everyone worried the same thing would happen.”
- “This is honestly ridiculous.”
The contract dispute and public fallout between NewJeans and ADOR show no signs of cooling down. Fans and critics alike are monitoring the situation closely.
