"How dare she call herself that": K-pop fans furious over OMEGA X's ex-CEO saying she treated them "like a mother"

K-pop fans rallying behind OMEGA X for justice were once again furious when the allegedly abusive Kang Seong-hee (former CEO of SPIRE Entertainment) denied mistreating the boys.

In a New York Times article on December 4, the former SPIRE Entertainment CEO Kang told reporters that she treated the 11 boys “like a mother” and did not abuse them. She even mentioned that Jaehan fell on his own and denied pushing him. She added that she hoped the group would trust her again and resume activities with the agency. She said:

“I took care of all of them like their mother.”

The comments infuriated K-pop fans across the world as video footage released by SBS News, and witness accounts by several friends as well as colleagues stated contrasting things. At a recent press conference, even OMEGA X themselves confirmed they were mentally and physically abused.

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Netizens are exasperated with CEO Kang’s denial of abusing OMEGA X members

OMEGA X seemed to be on the right path when their US tour in Los Angeles wrapped up successfully.

However, in a short amount of time, a netizen captured the members being mistreated as a staff yelled at them and pushed a member to the ground.

It was then revealed that the artist have been undergoing a string of abuses over the past year, including hiding positive COVID test results, threats to withhold albums if they did not drink alcohol at parties, mental abuse, and much more.

SPIRE Entertainment, OMEGA X’s agency, then announced that CEO Kang had resigned.

However, in a recent phone call with the New York Times, she completely denied causing any trouble to the members and has claimed that she took care of them.

With a mountainful of evidence against Kang, especially video and audio recordings released by witnesses, fans have declared it a fake comment. Many fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment with the ex-CEO’s statement, and called her out for lying.

Take a look at some of the comments regarding her New York Times statement below:

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Jaehan and other OMEGA X members mention harassment faced at the hands of CEO Kang and SPIRE Entertainment

While videos of verbal and mental abuse swirled on social media, OMEGA X members held a press conference on November 16 with their legal representatives. The conference was to publicly state their stance on the matter and expose all the mistreatment they faced.

Trigger warning: S*xual harassment, mention of suicide

One of the members, Jaehan, added that the group was also s*xually harassed by CEO Kang, who also often made threats about withholding their comeback. He said:

“After practice was over, CEO Kang called me and forced me to drink. S*xual harassment was also involved. She touched my face and hand. After drinking, she called me through KakaoTalk. She lashed out by saying that if we are going to continue to be idols, we have to crawl.”

Jaehan further stated that she would often gaslight them by emotionally blackmailing them about ending her life.

“She also said she would commit suicide, so the members received therapy. We only wanted to be respected as people who love music.”

OMEGA X members also shared that since this was the group’s second chance, they continued living through the abuse.

However, they have now opened a personal group Instagram account without the permission or control of the agency. The group also announced it is taking legal action against SPIRE Entertainment and Kang.