Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following the judgment that former THE BOYZ member Ju Haknyeon was the victim of what was essentially a shakedown attempt by his former company ONE HUNDRED (catch up on their implosion saga), there’s been relevant news about the company now suing THE BOYZ for millions, as that seems like an awfully familiar case. Additionally, backtracking even further revealed another similar case that flew under the radar of most fans, probably because it involved former (and disgraced) Highlight member (and HyunA‘s husband) Yong Junhyung.
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First things first, ONE HUNDRED has filed a lawsuit against THE BOYZ for ~$6 million to reclaim their contract signing bonuses, which they claim were advanced payments made under stipulation of label activities. Effectively then, ONE HUNDRED is using the fact that THE BOYZ won their contract injunction against them. It’s the latest in what feels like increasingly desperate attempts to recoup funds, as that injunction was only granted to begin with due to breach of trust, managerial neglect, and … well, non-payment. The court even already rejected the advance payments argument within the injunction decision.
Despite that, included in the lawsuit were provisional asset seizures against the members, which for now has led to Younghoon and Q having property frozen. That has little to do with the merits of the lawsuit, as it’s basically just to ensure the members are able to pay the compensation in case they lose. ONE HUNDRED has said they will be doing the same to the other seven members, though they haven’t yet, likely because they’re still trying to identify where their assets are.
Obviously I don’t know the exact terms of THE BOYZ’s contracts, but given what emerged from the injunction ruling and everything that’s transpired to this point with ONE HUNDRED, you have to forgive me if I’m skeptical that this is anything but a wild goose chase from them. ONE HUNDRED are in serious financial trouble, and even a miniscule chance they could get millions back is probably worth the legal fees from their perspective.
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That segues into the next part of this, which is that in light of the Haknyeon ruling and the above money grab involving with THE BOYZ, I wanted to revisit an instance of ONE HUNDRED doing similar to another artist under their umbrella. I had not covered it before because it wasn’t treated as relevant news at the time, likely because it involved former Highlight member Junhyung and his agency BLACK MADE.
Back in June of last year, he stated that the agency had suddenly terminated his contract and demanded ~$700k from him. The money was supposedly for damages done towards an investment from a commerce company that he hadn’t approved as an investor. Junhyung said BLACK MADE calculated the figure unilaterally and that the agency ignored him when he requested they provide the management services his contract mandated. While BLACK MADE was established as an independent label, it was actually a subsidiary of BPM Entertainment, which is how the story now ties into the ONE HUNDRED mess.
Fast forward all the way to March of this year, when Junhyung announced that he had terminated his contract with the agency, yet didn’t even receive a formal response to that. As such, there’s some confusion about where things stand due the company continuing to basically ghost him, but he feels it’s resolved, “I believe the contract has been legally terminated, and I plan to continue my future activities independently.“
Anyway, the point of this isn’t to weep for him or anything, it’s that ONE HUNDRED and its subsidiaries are clearly just trying anything against most of the artists under their umbrella at this point. It’s a clear, desperate pattern, and a gigantic mess for everybody involved.
