Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Well, the public relations war has certainly started up again in earnest, as the HYBE/ADOR mess is going back to its roots, with Dispatch using leaked HYBE information that exposes Min Hee Jin to the public in hopes of winning them over.
——
Speaking of working with Dispatch, it has now revealed that HYBE’s audit of ADOR is their source on this, though they create a degree of separation by mentioning an external agency.
“The KakaoTalk screenshots that appear in this article were provided by HYBE in their audit report submitted to an external agency.”
Okay, but only the most insane HYBE stans are in denial about who, how, and why this is all coming out, I think. Whether it’s illegal or not will be determined in court, I guess.
As for the other texts released … for better or worse it doesn’t really broach new territory (in full here). Like it only provides further evidence that she’s an egomaniac who disparaged Bang Si Hyuk and HYBE, criticized a female employee who reported sexual harassment, and disparaged the NewJeans members.
Like … I’m not trying to minimize this, but these are all things that we’ve known about Min Hee Jin for a while now and what has soured anybody paying attention on her.
Note: It does sort of also seem to confirm that somebody leaked these to cyberwrecker YouTuber Lee Jin Ho, but also supports that what he was saying was factual.
——
Now, I already see people questioning why HYBE is seemingly using the same strategy that got them into this mess over again. However — and maybe I’m crazy — but I think the context has changed, because I don’t think Min Hee Jin can ever have another press conference moment like that.
Where Min Hee Jin succeeded — aside from the public loving NewJeans — is that she maintained message discipline in the face of everything, continuing to reinforce the appearance that she’s some genuine, crazy genius girlboss who is the victim of the system or whatever. Thus, HYBE continuing to hammer the media with these messages that run opposite from that seems like a decent strategy in chipping away at Min Hee Jin’s image and support. Slowly but surely, I do think more people are realizing this is about corporate beef over money and control, just with K-pop idols being used as props. That’s more of a win than not for HYBE.
Will any of that matter legally? I’m not going to pretend to know, and HYBE are gonna have to win on that front for this to eventually make a difference. However, at least this is groundwork for a PR bounceback.
