BTS’ V has spoken out after becoming unknowingly involved in the legal dispute between NewJeans’ executive producer Min Hee-jin and Hybe without his consent.
On Feb 12, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favour of former Ador CEO Hee-jin in her battle with Hybe over her shareholders’ contract termination.
Hybe was ordered to pay 25.5 billion won (S$22 million) that she demanded as part of her put option and her legal expenses for the lawsuit, reported Korea JoongAng Daily.
In a report today (Feb 20), Sports Kyunghyang said that text messages between V and Hee-jin, 47, were submitted to court as evidence of Hybe’s girl group Illit copying NewJeans.
The messages reportedly read: “That’s right. I took a look and thought, ‘Oh, this is similar.'”
This prompted 30-year-old V, who is signed to Hybe’s subsidiary BigHit Music, to release a statement on his Instagram Story today.
“This was part of my daily personal conversation I had with an acquaintance, in which I sympathised with them. I have no intention to support a side. However, our conversation being used as evidence in a trial has left me extremely bewildered,” he said.
A source from Hybe reportedly told The Chosun Daily: “The artist merely empathised with an acquaintance’s private conversation and did not agree with the other party’s specific remarks. It was confirmed that the artist also wanted to express dissatisfaction over the unauthorised use of private conversations as court evidence.”
Hee-jin has not released a statement while Hybe has filed an appeal over the ruling.
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