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On November 8, 2024, ADOR released an official statement regarding the legal dispute with NewJeans' MV director, Shin Woo-seok. SPOTV News reported that the director filed a lawsuit on November 4, 2024, against ADOR's CEO, Kim Joo-young, and Vice President Lee Do-kyung at the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul.
He claimed that the label's new management ordered him to delete the NewJeans' ETA and Ditto music video 'director's cut' editions from his personal YouTube channel, Ban Heesoo, and his social media account, Dolphin Kidnapping.
The HYBE subsidiary label clarified its stance on the director's allegations and said that the allegations were baseless. The label said:
"We have no personal feelings toward director Shin Woo Seok, who created amazing work with NewJeans. However, we cannot condone acts that violate our contract or infringe upon our intellectual property. Two months ago, we filed a civil lawsuit against Shin, demanding responsibility for breach of contract and damages due to illegal actions."
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ADOR continued:
"Unfortunately, Shin Woo Seok did not respond and instead filed a groundless complaint against ADOR’s management."
What is the feud between ADOR and NewJeans' MV director Shin Woo-seok?
On August 27, 2024, ADOR's board of directors fired Min Hee-jin as the label's CEO and appointed Kim Joo-young as the new head. On September 11, 2024, NewJeans held a YouTube livestream after creating an unauthorized YouTube channel, where the group demanded Min Hee-jin's reinstatement as the label's CEO. Billboard reported that the YouTube channel was deleted the same day.
Dojeon Media reported that the group opened a YouTube channel called "nwjns" where they shared their concerns about ADOR's new leadership. However, Min Hee-jin's side reportedly claimed that the girl group opened the unauthorized YouTube channel for their livestream at their own discretion, despite her advice against it.
The same day, director Shin Woo-seok, popular for filming the girl group's music videos on ETA, Ditto, and OMG, claimed that the new ADOR CEO ordered him to remove the group's videos from his YouTube channel. The label stated earlier that they requested Shin Woo-seok to delete the music videos as it was a copyright violation, and advertisers raised complaints on the same.
On September 11, 2024, Korea JoongAng Daily reported that Shin Woo-seok countered that before uploading the NewJeans 'director's cut' edition on his channel, he took approval from the label and former CEO Min Hee-jin.
"Even the ending of the director’s cut video, which ADOR has been making an issue of, was agreed upon by all three companies at the time. Although there was a request for a partial tagline modification, there is no problem with uploading the video even now. But ADOR is dragging a third party into the dispute and causing damage."
In other news, former CEO Min Hee-jin was re-appointed as ADOR's inside director on October 17, 2024. However, the board rejected her reinstatement as the label's CEO.
Chosun Biz reported that on November 4, 2024, the court rejected Min Hee-jin's injunction and legally blocked her from becoming the CEO, citing that ADOR's independent board is not obligated to obey HYBE's orders. The court also stated that Min Hee-jin's arguments were insufficient as the shareholders' contract differs from her CEO's agreement with the label.
