The absence of NewJeans from the “2023 MAMA Awards” held last month is reminiscent of the past conflict between HYBE and MBC
On Nov 30th, YouTuber Lee Jin-ho revealed the reason for NewJeans‘ absence from the “2023 MAMA Awards”. Although NewJeans won 4 awards, including “Artist of the Year” and “Song of the Year”, at the awards ceremony held on Nov 29th, they did not attend the event and did not leave an acceptance speech.
According to Lee Jin-ho, the reason for NewJeans’ absence this year was related to last year’s awards ceremony held in Osaka, Japan. At that time, NewJeans failed to win the Best New Artist award.
The “MAMA Awards” last year awarded the “Favorite New Artist” prize, but based on the criteria of cumulative album sales exceeding 1 million, NewJeans, which debuted in July last year, did not even become a nominee. Lee Jin-ho explained, “Recording only 440,000 copies of their first album but NewJeans created a syndrome. However, they were evaluated based on only one album at the awards ceremony. As a result, they left Korea to perform without getting a single nomination.”
Lee Jin-ho added, “There’s another ridiculous thing. So why did NewJeans perform at MAMA last year? It was because CEO Min Hee-jin received Breakout Producer. As a result, NewJeans members stood on the stage for someone else’s award. There were voices of criticism, wondering, ‘Didn’t they create that award to have NewJeans perform at MAMA?’ It is known that CEO Min Hee-jin was very upset after witnessing the entire series of events.”
This situation evokes memories of the past tension between HYBE and MBC. In 2019, BTS appeared on the US live show “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”, leading to their absence from MBC’s year-end program “Gayo Daejejeon”. In retaliation, MBC did not feature HYBE artists TXT and GFriend on “Gayo Daejejeon”. Subsequently, HYBE artists, including BTS, refrained from participating in MBC’s music programs and award ceremonies from 2019 to the present.
The conflict between HYBE and MBC came to an end in 2023, after 4 years. Last month, both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create a healthy broadcast production environment and enhance artists’ rights, promising to eliminate coercion for appearances on programs and award ceremonies.
Source: Daum
