On Sep 11, the five members of NewJeans – Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein – made a guerrilla livestream where they spoke about their workplace conditions and voiced out their support for their former CEO Min Hee-jin who was removed from her position in August.
During the livestream, Hanni recounted an incident during which she claimed that another HYBE group was told to “ignore her”.
“The fourth floor of the HYBE building is where we get our hair and makeup done, so a lot of other artistes and staff go there. One day, I was waiting alone in the hallway, and [another HYBE group] passed by.
“We greeted each other but when they came back out a bit later, I heard one of their managers say ‘Ignore her’ right in front of me. I could hear and see everything clearly. Even now, I still don’t understand why I had to go through that.”
Even though Hanni did not name the group and manager in question, subsequent statements by parent company HYBE and its sub-label Belift Lab revealed that the group involved was Illit – whom Min Hee-jin had previously accused of copying NewJeans.
