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HYBE is under fire for allegedly suggesting Joshua's departure from SEVENTEEN due to dating rumors in 2023. On October 28, 2024, Sports Kyunghyang, a South Korean media agency, reported the content of a HYBE internal document that allegedly discussed Joshua's removal from the group.
Previously, on October 24, 2024, during the Ministry Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee's comprehensive audit at the National Assembly, Democratic Party of Korea member Min Hyung-bae revealed an alleged internal document used by the entertainment conglomerate. This document, named Industry Trends Data, sparked multiple debates online as it reportedly contained malicious comments towards artists under other companies.
However, an excerpt from the document reportedly released by Sports Kyunghyang had a marketing team member's comment about a group member from HYBE itself. Despite the name of the artist or the group not being mentioned in the reported document, many fans speculated that they were discussing Joshua’s dating rumors with model Cho Mi-young in 2023. This was because the content suggested that the topic was regarding a dating scandal, leading fans to believe that it was about the SEVENTEEN vocalist.
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The document read,
“Membership is such a big part of the team’s value that extreme needs such as (member name) leaving the group are not the mainstream opinion. However, since the incident is so clearly hurtful for the fandom, there needs to be some kind of ‘trigger’ that allows the fans to pretend to let it go.”
Fans were furious after learning about the reported information and took to social media to voice their opinions online.
“This company deserves hell. This is why plybe did not move to protect him,” a fan said.
“I can't imagine him leaving the group. He's unproblematic and always minds his own business. What did Joshua do to deserve this,” a fan wrote.
“I would never have calculated that hybe would be the one to do sh*t to shu and all of us but that also explains why he never received any help from the company,” another fan said.
Fans continued to criticize the agency for allegedly suggesting Joshua's removal from SEVENTEEN.
“Exposed for orchestrating joshua’s dating rumours and yet people still say that the hybe takeover of pledis was beneficial for seventeen,” a user said.
“Their nasty as*es getting exposed, whatever happened on joshua august last year, hybe is the one behind it. Hence, that's why nobody even bothers to move their fingers and do something to protect their own artist,” another user said.
“I hope you burn in hell,” a fan said.
Fans shared similar sentiments after learning the alleged content of the internal document.
“ooohhhhh hybe demise please go faster i can’t do this anymore im fueled with so much hatred,” a fan said.
“SO ALL OF JOSHUA PROBLEM LAST YEAR WAS BCZ OF YOU @HYBEOFFICIALtwt, YOU EVEN CONSIDER TO MAKE JOSHUA LEFT THE GROUP, CURSE YOU AND ALL YOUR MANAGEMENT,” another fan said.
“WE BEEN SENDING EMAIL TO PLEDIS BUT YOUR LABEL ACTING LIKE YOU CAN MAKE JOSHUA GET OUT FROM THE GROUP,” a user said.
More about HYBE's internal document revealed at the National Assembly audit
On October 24, HYBE COO Kim Tae-ho was summoned to the National Assembly audit set up by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to address the workplace harassment allegations made by NewJeans’ Hani. According to ET News, Assemblyman Min Hyung-bae unveiled the internal document titled Industry Trends Data, which reportedly had slandering and malicious comments against K-pop groups and artists from other agencies.
However, COO Kim Tae-ho claimed that the document was a compilation of articles and public opinions found online to understand the trends and was not the official stance of the conglomerate about other agencies’ artists.
The agency quickly made a statement regarding the content of the document and also sent a warning to the person who leaked it on the same day of the audit. Assemblyman Min Hyung-bae criticized COO Kim Tae-ho for the statement made by the agency while the audit was still ongoing.
Meanwhile, artists like TWICE, aespa, RIIZE, Stray Kids, BLACKPINK, and many more were reportedly mentioned in the internal document.
