"The new ADOR is lying" — NewJeans MV director claims HYBE ordered video deletion of the band's previous work

On September 2, 2024, NewJeans MV director Shin Woo-seok posted on social media that all Dolphiners Films-produced NewJeans music videos and related content had to be removed due to a policy change at ADOR brought about by a change in management. Shin Woo-seok previously directed NewJeans' Ditto and ETA music videos.

For the unversed, on August 27, HYBE Corporation dismissed Min Hee-jin as ADOR's CEO and replaced her with Kim Joo-young. Before getting appointed as the new CEO, Kim Joo-young served as ADOR's Chief Human Resources Officer.

Meanwhile, Shin Woo-seok claimed that the NewJeans MV and content created by Dolphiners Films were uploaded to the Ban Hee-su YouTube channels for fans. He added that no profits were made from that content, and the YouTube channel served as an archive for the director. Shin Woo-seok wrote that the new ADOR management claimed a breach of artists' publishing rights and said,

"The new ADOR is lying, claiming that we uploaded the director’s cuts without permission. [...] ADOR is the one who asked me to delete the videos, claiming that they contain the artists’ portraiture rights and hence can only be published on their official channel and not a third-party channel."

Shin Woo-seok also claimed that ADOR served them with a notice, allegedly threatening them to "delete" the videos by Monday morning (September 9) to avoid getting penalized for a breach of contract.

"They unilaterally sent a proof of contents [legal document] to request that if we do not delete the videos by Monday morning, they would be requesting twice the price of services from us as a fine for violating the contract."

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ADOR refutes allegation of music videos made by NewJeans MV director

Meanwhile, the new ADOR management stated that they haven't requested the deletion of NewJeans' videos. ADOR stated that all videos related to NewJeans, including the Ban Hee Soo channel, have not been requested to be deleted or stopped from being uploaded.

ADOR only asked that the director's cut video be removed from Dolphin Kidnapping Group, aka Dolphiners Films. They also asked Dolphiners Films to avoid uploading any further MVs on the YouTube channel to avoid a breach of contract.

"ADOR would like to inform you that Director Shin Woo Seok's claims are significantly different from the facts as shown above, and we feel sorry about the breach of contract and the dissemination of false information by Dolphin Kidnapping."

ADOR claimed that they requested the deletion of certain MV's, which were termed by Shin Woo-seok as the "director's cut." These cuts in the MVs didn't comply with YouTube's advertisers' guidelines.

ADOR stated that as per the terms of the contract between them and Dolphin Kidnapping, the director's cut and any modifications of the ETA music video must be uploaded on HYBE and ADOR's official channel. Since ADOR owns the rights to the music video, all connected works of NewJeans, and the artist's rights.

Shin Woo-seok took to his Instagram story and wrote another post, alleging HYBE and the new ADOR management of lying about their music video deletion. He added that no director would ever want to delete their hard work.

"Logically speaking, which director would burn their own works by their own hand? What reason would I have to do so? The videos on Ban Heesoo’s channel are an extension of “Ditto,” which I directed. The videos and the channel were personally requested by me of [old] ADOR [to post], without any pay, just for the fans. So why would I delete them all of a sudden without any reason?"

The NewJeans' MV director continued that they deleted the videos as per ADOR and HYBE's unfair request. He claimed that Min Hee-jin had promised him and Dolphiners Films (Dolphin Kidnapping Group) to work on future group projects, which the new ADOR management discarded as HYBE has its own in-house channels and teams.

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In other news, NewJeans members Danielle, Hanni, and Minji expressed their worries about Min Hee-jin's removal as ADOR's CEO. They wrote on the Phoning app that they feel extremely frustrated and anxious with the current situation.