Star Empire Entertainment, record label of K-pop group ZE:A, has released a statement that the group's leader Lee Hoo (Junyoung) will be temporarily halting his promotions with the band and communications with fans via SNS.
The agency posted their official statement on ZE:A's fan café on October 21, Allkpop reports. The company explained through the statement the recent conflict involving Lee Hoo, his group, and the head of Star Empire, Shin Joo Hak.
The statement explained that such conflicts and differences in opinion between an agency and its artist are common among companies. It also mentioned how the member Taehyun's MMA injury worsened the situation between the agency and ZE:A. Star Empire also admitted that their misjudgment also has hurt Lee Hoo and caused misunderstanding among fans, which they are regretful about.
On the latter part of the statement, it revealed that Lee Hoo will temporarily go on a hiatus and cease communications through SNS.
Here is the statement of Star Empire, published by AllKpop:
"The motive behind Moon Joon Young's direct posts on Twitter and differences in opinion between agency and celebrity are common problems within companies. As they've been under Star Empire for the past 10 years, [Lee Hoo] and the ZE:A members have been trying to move forward positively and had meetings personally with the head in order to come to try to come to an agreement. However, with the Osaka, Tokyo fan meetings in Japan ahead on September 12 and ZE:A memberTaehyun's MMA injury, we weren't able to address his treatment immediately, and the members' discontent was heightened. They decided that they weren't able to communicate with the label any longer, and Lee Hoo spoke for his members and tweeted to the public as a way to get better treatment. It was not a wise way to deal with it, but from Lee Hoo's perspective, it was something he needed to do. Star Empire is taking full responsibility for this commotion.
After the 21st, the Twitter apology saying the misunderstandings and conflicts had been resolved, and the members and agency head found good solutions for the misunderstandings and truths about the income distribution and the agency artists' rights and welfare. Lee Hoo then apologized through Twitter for causing concerns and promised to make it up through good performances. However, Lee Hoo then posted to Twitter that his words reflected more of the agency's intentions than his own. From the agency's perspective, we don't think we should cause more confusion to the public and netizens because of internal issues. However, because of this situation, the public's misunderstandings about Lee Hoo have grown, and as Lee Hoo has posted his contradictory opinions on Twitter once again, the public's ill feelings have grown. The agency's misjudgment has hurt Lee Hoo and stamped in unnecessary misunderstandings among fans, which the company regrets. One day wasn't enough to resolve 10 years of complaints and feelings of unfairness, and 140 characters [on Twitter] are not enough to express 10 years of toil and situations in 140 characters...
We've created a new system that factors in the opinion of the ZE:A members including Lee Hoo and the agency head Shin Joo Hak... Lee Hoo is reflecting on causing a concern to his loving fans and the public for the past month and plans to try even harder to show a good side of himself. For his plans, Lee Hoo will temporary cease communications through SNS, and we ask that you wait for a Lee Hoo to return with a new image. He also left his last words, asking you to cheer on the rest of the eight [ZE:A] members. In the future, Star Empire Entertainment will have mutual and continuous correspondence with its artists through honest communications. We plan to show the fans a great image, and we will try our best to never have this sort of situation arise again."
The K-pop idol made news recently for posting messages pertaining to an apparent conflict with his agency. His recent controversial series of tweets included a mysterious countdown to October 21st.
The K-pop star even posted an image of his apparent income document that shows his alleged salary and deducted taxes. The image came with a cigarette graphic concealing other personal information. Like what he has previously done with his explosive tweets, Lee Hoo deleted the post afterwards.
Join the Conversation