HYBE Faces Insincere Apology Controversy Over Internal Documents

When the documents were brought up during the National Assembly audit, HYBE initially distanced itself, claiming they did “not represent HYBE’s position.” However, five days later on October 29, CEO Lee Jae-sang issued an official apology. This came after additional reports surfaced following the audit, revealing strategies to shape favorable public opinion for HYBE’s own groups, which further deteriorated public sentiment.

CEO Lee stated, “On behalf of the company, I fully acknowledge all wrongdoing and take responsibility for the inclusion of provocative and offensive language directed at K-pop artists, for the addition of the author’s personal opinions and evaluations, and for allowing such content to be documented.” He apologized to artists from both HYBE and other agencies, adding that the company had been reaching out directly to affected agencies to apologize in person. The executive who authored the documents was relieved of their position.

Entertainment industry insider D strongly criticized: “This is a pathetic attempt at damage control by cutting off the tail. This isn’t about that executive’s problem—the higher-ups should be held accountable. It makes no sense. Looking at the CEO’s attitude, it’s hard to find any sincerity in this apology. Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and the executive team should have taken responsibility and apologized. They claim they’re contacting each agency to apologize, but as of yesterday (October 30), I haven’t seen any agency that has actually received such contact. Since it’s hard to verify, it seems like they’re trying to sweep this under the rug.“

Entertainment industry insider G said, “I don’t know if the top executives, CEO-level people, have been in contact with each other, but at the working level, we haven’t received any contact.” They continued, “If they thought this was wrong, if they were a company with proper judgment, they would have stopped it. They didn’t just scrape opinions from somewhere—they wrote and reported this themselves. The very existence of a team that creates these documents, and the ‘long period’ over which they were written and reported, proves the company’s values.”

Another entertainment industry insider C also pointed out, “The biggest problem is how HYBE’s management views the entertainment industry. If they had any affection for the industry and its artists, they would have at least instructed the author to tone down the language after seeing such reports. No one felt uncomfortable about it, which is why the reports continued for so long. If that’s not the case, then perhaps the problem is a company culture where no one dares to speak up about such issues.”

Entertainment industry insider B said, “The artists all know. We even briefly considered whether we should respond in some way internally, since our artists were hurt and angry.” Music industry insider E added, “If (SEVENTEEN’s) Seungkwan felt strongly enough to write that post, the people whose names were mentioned must have had the content shared with them, or someone around them would have sent it to them through some channel.”

Entertainment industry insider G remarked, “Many artists are minors or in their early 20s just starting out in society, and they all get along well with each other. But going forward, I think we need to be more careful about protecting artists.”

They continued, “Even if we do features or joint stages or film challenges in good faith, if they’re going to evaluate us each time and use it as a stepping stone for their own position, that’s scary and chilling to us. No matter how positive the expected outcome might be, shouldn’t a company prioritize protecting its artists’ mental health?” They concluded, “For the time being, we’ll have to be cautious about any contact with HYBE. It’s inevitable that people will say we can’t work with them on anything.”