Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Because forks tend to be found in the kitchen, the agency (INB100) of EXO‘s Xiumin has accused KBS of effectively blacklisting him from Music Bank, inferring that it was basically due to pressure from SM Entertainment, who are still involved in a legal dispute with EXO-CBX members.
As this is a long-awaited solo comeback, our team made continuous efforts to arrange meetings with various broadcasting stations so that Xiumin could showcase a great performance to his fans. However, KBS remained unresponsive and did not return our attempts to make contact.
Recently, we were unofficially informed by KBS that it would be impossible for Xiumin to appear on [KBS] programs that feature SM Entertainment artists, including KBS2’s “Music Bank.”
This reasoning was difficult to understand, but even until today, we have continuously attempted to communicate with KBS to urge them to prioritize the artist and their fans. Unfortunately, our attempts were ignored.
We believe this situation reflects a case where a public broadcasting station is blocking an artist’s meeting with fans—not due to musical or any other [reasonable] factors, but based on its dealings with a specific entertainment company.
So while SME’s involvement is alluded to, the statement is more of a call-out of KBS.
Thus, KBS responded, and with a denial, saying that there was always communication.
KBS has denied the claims, stating, “The allegations are completely unfounded,” and added, “The ‘Music Bank’ production team has been in continuous communication with Xiumin’s agency.”
I have absolutely no reason to believe in KBS, who are presumably acting as a proxy of SME here, as this is straight out of the old school K-pop and JYJ playbook to the point where it’s basically new management carrying on tradition.
The upside for Xiumin? With SME’s power seemingly dwindling, it doesn’t appear like they have the leverage anymore to really be aggressive with blacklisting. KBS seems to be the only problem network here, and Xiumin has been on broadcast elsewhere since. I guess that’s progress, in a way.
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In lawsuit news, things have been surprisingly quiet in EXO-CBX’s battle with SME. Last June, they filed a complaint against SME execs that was basically about fraud, but I haven’t seen further updates on anything else. Like I always say, the legal process takes a long-ass time.
