Actor Yoo Ah In, who is suspected of using drugs, is likely to pay advertisers over 10 billion won in penalty.
When appearing on YTN’s “News Live” on March 28th, lawyer Kim Sung Hoon said, “If Yoo Ah In is found guilty, there’s a high possibility that he will pay a penalty. However, we can’t rule out the possibility of reaching an agreement before the lawsuit.”
Lawyer Kim continued, “These days, advertisement appearance contracts usually contain a clause that requires artists to pay a penalty equivalent to or more than the advertisement cost if the brand’s image is damaged due to the artist’s social controversy.”
Lawyer Kim explained, “It will be difficult to completely avoid legal responsibility. An agreement on compensation for damages may be reached to some extent, but if an agreement can’t be reached and there’s a disagreement, it can lead to a lawsuit.”
It is known that Yoo Ah In is an advertising model for about 10 companies.
If Yoo Ah In’s annual advertising model fee is 800~900 million won, it is predicted that the penalty he has to pay to advertisers is more than 10 billion won.
In addition, the release of Netflix’s series “Goodbye Earth”, the movies “The Match” and “Hi.5” has been temporarily suspended or postponed. Since the total production cost of the three works is close to 65 billion won, the amount of damage to the film industry is expected to reach hundreds of millions of won.
Meanwhile, Yoo Ah In appeared at the police station on March 27th and returned home after being interrogated for 12 hours on charges of using 4 types of drugs, including marijuana, propofol, cocaine and ketamine.
On this day, Yoo Ah In apologized, “It would be very uncomfortable to see me like this, but I want to take advantage of these moments to live healthier moments that I haven’t lived before. I’m really sorry for disappointing you.”
Source: Insight
