NewJeans Members Claim Adore is Restricting Their Activities, Adore Responds
On March 7, 2025, a court hearing took place at the Seoul Central District Court regarding a case filed by Adore against the five members of NewJeans (NJZ) for a 'provisional injunction to maintain agency status and prohibit advertising contracts.' All members—Minji, Hani, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein—attended the hearing in person.
Adore countered claims from NewJeans that the agency was attempting to limit their entertainment activities, asserting that there were no valid reasons for terminating their exclusive contracts. In particular, Adore addressed the so-called 'ignore' incident by releasing video evidence. This incident involved allegations that an Ailite manager instructed members not to greet Hani, saying 'ignore her,' and that Hive deleted CCTV footage of the encounter. NewJeans claimed that some Ailite members mocked them through words and actions.
The released CCTV footage showed Ailite members bowing at a 90-degree angle to Hani and Danielle as they passed by. Adore argued that the 'ignore' comment originated from former representative Min and presented a KakaoTalk conversation between Min and Hani as evidence. In the chat, Hani mentioned hearing a manager tell her to ignore the Ailite members but could not recall the exact words, stating, 'I don't remember if those were the exact words, just something like that.' Min then questioned her multiple times about whether everyone ignored her, to which Hani replied, 'I don't know.'
Adore's lawyer pointed out that Hani herself did not consider the incident a significant issue, suggesting that Min had exaggerated it into a larger problem. They argued that the issue was being misrepresented as a reason for contract termination.
Additionally, NewJeans claimed that Hive, Adore's parent company, harbored feelings of inferiority or jealousy towards the success of NewJeans, leading to intentional discrimination and attacks against them. In response, Adore stated that Hive had invested a total of 21 billion KRW into Adore, covering all training and educational expenses for NewJeans, which they claimed was unprecedented for a single group.
During the hearing, Kim Joo-young, a representative from Adore, expressed that the sole reason for filing the injunction was to continue working with the NewJeans members.
On the other hand, the legal representatives for Minji, Hani, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein argued that Adore had admitted to lacking the intention and ability to protect and nurture the members, instead damaging their career foundations. They claimed that the members' termination notices were legitimate and effective immediately, asserting that the injunction should be dismissed.
At the end of the hearing, Danielle raised her hand and expressed her concerns, stating, 'The managers, representatives, and stylists I trusted are no longer with Adore. I don’t know who will protect us if we go back. I’m 21 years old, and I don’t want to experience the next five years like this again. So, regardless of the outcome, I want to emphasize that I have no desire to return to Adore,' as she broke down in tears.
