Happy Face Entertainment has filed a claim for damages against YG Entertainment for cancelling the winning team of ‘MIXNINE’ debut.
On June 26, Seoul Central District Court reported that Happy Face Entertainment filed a claim for damages worth 10 million won (approximately $9,000) against YG Entertainment.
Happy Face conclusively argued that YG Entertainment abused their power as one of the three large entertainment agencies in Korea and did not follow their original contract.
Last year, YG joined forces with JTBC to create a survival program called ‘MIXNINE‘ from October to January. The purpose of this program was for CEO Yang to discover talents from small to mid-sized agencies and help them debut under the name of YG Entertainment.
However, after the end of the program, with all members of debut team finalized, YG suddenly announced that plans for a debut fell apart.
YG had reportedly conducted meetings with the agencies representing the members of MIXNINE in April to re-visit the contracts with the members. However, the agencies couldn’t come to an agreement, resulting in the cancellation of the debut.
One of the agencies was Happy Face, the agency of MIXNINE winner, Woo Jin-Young.
The company argued, “YG’s original exclusive management period was four months, but it suddenly extended to three years. Also, it seemed like if we didn’t agree to the changes of the contract, the project would be canceled.” They concluded, “it was not any more or less than an overuse of power as a large entertainment company with strong influence.”
Happy Face also reported that YG did not fulfill the terms of covering any expenses that occurred while Woo Jin-Young participated in the program. Because we believed that he had a chance of debuting under YG, we covered our own expenses for the 6 months of the program. The expenses included the trainee’s training, makeup, clothes, transportation fees, and others.”
In conclusion, the company said, “we are filing a claim for 10 million won. This claim represents more than a compensation for the damages we received. In fact, it represents our hopes that the Korean pop culture will progress soundly and to escape from the Gabjil of large entertainment corporations.”
In response to the claim, YG responded, “we thought we had ended the situation when the six agencies came in for a meeting and amicably came to an agreement. Therefore, we did not expect one of them to file a lawsuit for 10 million won at this point.”
They continued, “however, now that they have already filed an official complaint, we plan to discuss the matter with our legal counselor and respond to it. Furthermore, we will try to minimize all misunderstandings through the final decision from the court. Thank you.”
Original Article (1), (2), (3)
Translated by Dasol Kim
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!
