‘I can’t believe this is happening’

This Wednesday, 30th, the rapper, producer, singer and songwriter Zicoshared a brief statement on the recent controversy over conglomerate HYBE, which had a “music industry report” leaked on social media after being presented in the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee audit held on October 24.

It turns out that the public circulation of 20 pages, out of the 18 thousand present in the report, revealed malicious comments made by the company about numerous K-pop artists from HYBE’s competitors, such as SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment, whose content contains criticism and judgments about idols’ abilities and appearance, as well as spreading rumors.

This document was issued weekly and sent to C-level executives at HYBE and its subsidiary record companies at the request of the conglomerate’s president himself, Bang Si Hyukaccording to information published by the media outlet Hankyoreh (via Soompi), this Wednesday, 30, obtained through access to email records dated January 6, 2022.

In these email records, Zicowho is the CEO of KOZ Entertainment, a company founded by the idol, which was acquired by HYBE in 2020, is mentioned. At the time, Bang Si Hyukreplied the former head of Weverse Magazine, known for creating the document, Kang Myung Seokstating: “Please add Zico to the list of recipients of the document”.

This report should also be forwarded to Kim Joo Youngwho was the Director of Human Resources at the time, and who is now the CEO of ADOR, and, due to the periodicity of the document, it is possible that Zico has been receiving it since last South Korean summer, which takes place between June and September.

With the report, Zico used the Instagram Stories tool to clarify the matter, confirming that he was added as a recipient, but stating that he never opened the document.

Read the translation:

I can’t believe this is happening…
After checking out today’s report, I thought it would be best to address this directly, so I’m leaving this message.
I never saw the document in question, nor did I open the email itself.
I only found out that I was added as a recipient through today’s report.
To avoid further misunderstandings, I directly asked KOZ to verify that I had not opened any of the emails or documents, and they confirmed this.
I hope everyone who was worried can have a peaceful day today.

Also read: HYBE issues statement on document with malicious comments about K-Pop artists