It was a big slap on the face of SM Entertainment when the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Hero, Micky and Xiah regarding their unfair contract with the Korean entertainment agency.
Faced with embarassing situation, SM is now using its artists including DBSK members Yunho and Changmin–who didn’t join the three in the lawsuit–and their fathers to gang up on Hero, Micky and Xiah and portray the three as greedy artists.
It seems that SM using the media to downplay the victory of Hero, Micky and Xiah. In the past week, statements have been issued by SHINee, Yunho and Changmin, and their fathers to support SM Entertainment and create a potential backlash against the three members.
The question is, will DBSK continue to work as one group, or is SM now planning to boot the three from the company even if they expressed their desire to continue working under the DBSK name?
According to the Korea Times, with the court ruling:
“The three are now free to appear in dramas, commercials and movies, while awaiting a final verdict on the contract.
“After the court’s decision, legal representatives for the three said that they will continue their action until the contract is declared null and void.
“The three ― Hero, Micky and Xiah ― compared their 13-year exclusive contract with SM with a slave deal and submitted an application for provisional disposition regarding their contract with SM. With the three bolting, the once-popular group is as good as disbanded.
“They claimed that they were not treated fairly by the agency in terms of profit distribution.
“The court stated that “SM Entertainment cannot sign a contract opposes the petitioners’ intention or obstructs their individual activities.”’
I think its unfair to drag SHINee into this – both by SM Ent and the media.
Because SHINee is the one that is heavily promoting an album for SM Ent right now, they were inadvertedly dragged into this mess by a reporter looking for a quote after Yunho and Changmin released their statements today. Thus the boys were forced to release a statement about their relationship with SM Ent after being called a “puppet” by the reporter.
SHINee is a new and fast-rising star in kpop – one of the few who actually are very talented. They’re still a bit naive…and this whole incident will force these young boys to become more jaded and cautious in this industry. It’s a shame. They seem to still be having fun and uncorrupted yet by the kpop shenanigans.