HOOK Entertainment, which used to be Youn Yuh Jung and Lee Seung Gi’s agency, is facing a crisis.
On December 5th, HOOK Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as “HOOK”) released an official position announcing the expiration of their exclusive contract with actress Youn Yuh Jung.
Youn Yuh Jung joined HOOK 5 years ago in 2017 and shone her presence as a “National actress”. After moving to HOOK, Youn Yuh Jung took a step closer to the public by appearing on various entertainment programs, such as tvN’s “Youn’s Kitchen Season 1 & 2”, “Youn’s Stay” and “Unexpected Journey”. In addition, she also became a global actress after starring in the movie “Minari” and Apple TV+’s original series “Pachinko”.
Many thought HOOK would continue to accompany Youn Yuh Jung for longer, but it couldn’t happen. It is due to the recent controversies surrounding the agency.
Some netizens speculate that Youn Yuh Jung’s absence from PD Na Young Seok’s new show “It’s Seo Jin (working title)” of the “Kitchen” series may be due to her breakup with HOOK.
HOOK has recently been in a dispute with former artist Lee Seung Gi. Lee Seung Gi sent a certification of content about his music revenue settlement and eventually notified the termination of his exclusive contract. In this process, many other issues related to HOOK’s CEO Kwon Jin Young, including her abusive language, recording of her gaslighting remarks, tax evasion charges, building investments, and misuse of corporate cards, were also revealed.
The controversy hasn’t ended there. Following the search and seizure of their office building in November, HOOK was also investigated by the National Tax Service. The exact reason has not been revealed, but it seems that some of the executives were accused of embezzlement and the circumstances of HOOK and Kwon’s private use of security had an impact. Also, in the process, suspicions related to actress Park Min Young’s ex-lover are raised.
Controversy continues over HOOK Entertainment and its CEO. While the conflict with Lee Seung Gi is also expected to be a long-term battle, even Youn Yuh Jung left her agency. The problem only continues to worsen.
HOOK, who ‘denied’ both the settlement issue with Lee Seung Gi and the termination of Youn Yuh Jung’s contract, eventually faced a crisis by losing the two people who were the representative faces of the agency.
Currently, singer Lee Sun Hee, actors Lee Seo Jin and Seo Beom Jun, as well as actresses Park Min Young and Choi Gyu Ri remain in HOOK. Against all ongoing issues, CEO Kwon Jin Young lowered her head, saying, “I hope that there will be no damage to our artists.”
Attention is being focused on how HOOK will overcome this crisis and how they will protect their entertainers in such a chaotic situation.
Source: daum
