During a recent live broadcast of YouTuber and former entertainment reporter Lee Jin-ho, he not only presented rumors about journalist Jang Hyung-woo from online forum Girl’s Gallery as fact but also claimed that this information was already common knowledge within HYBE.
He further stated that HYBE had sent a certified letter to the news outlet Seoul Shinmun on July 24th regarding this matter.
This raises a critical question: How could tabloid press know about HYBE’s internal affairs unless HYBE themselves disclosed them?
Since the onset of the HYBE controversy, Girl’s Gallery has been identified as the primary source of negative information about NewJeans. The pattern is clear: once a post with specific keywords appears on Girl’s Gallery, it’s swiftly picked up by Twitter accounts that spread misinformation about NewJeans in English, facilitating its international dissemination. Domestically, this content proliferates through various communities, spawning similar articles and comments across social media platforms, YouTube, and news articles. This cycle has been ongoing for several months.
Today, these rumors were further propagated as truth through tabloid media outlets.
An analysis of keywords in Girl’s Gallery’s concept posts since last May reveals a telling pattern, clearly indicating the nature of this online community.
Notably, the narratives that emerged in today’s released HYBE PR recording echo the tone prevalent in Girl’s Gallery. Moreover, the Belift Lab clarification video from June openly utilized rumor data sourced from Girl’s Gallery.
Girl’s Gallery has been actively engaged in negative campaigns against NewJeans since the early stages of the HYBE incident. When HYBE’s legal team expressed difficulties in identifying DC Inside trolls, Min Hee-jin took matters into her own hands, meeting directly with Kim Yoo-sik in July and attempting to block Girl’s Gallery’s VPN access.
However, with Min Hee-jin’s recent removal from her CEO position, it’s feared that this issue may not receive proper attention moving forward.
It’s deeply concerning and perplexing how a company that claims to be South Korea’s leading entertainment entity appears to be operating in tandem with an underground online forum and tabloid media outlets.
Reacting to Lee Jin-ho allegations, netizens harshly criticized HYBE, as shown via the comment section on a hot topic on the Korean platform “theqoo”. Below are some of these comments:
- NewJeans should sue them
- Why on earth did BTS renew their contract? I really don’t understand. If they had risen to that level, they would have cut ties with a company like that.
- HYBE has stooped to a new low that cannot be measured anymore
- Wow, I’m rendered speechless. HYBE is truly disgusting
- This is really the first time I’ve seen something like this from an entertainment agency
- This is truly disgusting, it’s a deep-rooted evil in the entertainment industry
Source: Theqoo
