Geffen Records has issued a formal apology in response to controversy over a social media post by one of its executives.
Earlier this week, a fan of BTS’s Jimin posted on X (formerly Twitter) asking about his upcoming pre-release single “‘Smeraldo Garden Marching Band,” which is due out tonight.
Tagging Geffen Records (BTS’s U.S. distributor), its parent company Universal Music Group, and Ray Kurzeka (senior vice president and head of streaming at Geffen), the fan wrote, “Where are the iTunes pre-orders for Jimin’s ‘Smeraldo Garden Marching Band’ out next week June 28th? Also provide a EU version with no random inclusions in order to have a bigger impact on the UK Album Chart.”
Ray Kurzeka responded by linking Gracie Abrams’ “us.” featuring Taylor Swift and writing, “song of the year…”
After fans expressed outrage at this response, which many saw as dismissive or even mocking, the phrase “GEFFEN APOLOGIZE TO JIMIN” began trending on X.
On June 27 local time, Geffen Records released the following statement:
An employee of our label issued a single post on his personal social media account in response to an inquiry from fans of Jimin. This was made by mistake and in no way reflects either the views of the employee or those of our company. Both he and the company are deeply sorry that this happened. The post does not comply with the company’s social media policy.
Our compliance team is addressing this with him directly and implementing enhanced controls across the company to assure that it never happens again. As we address this matter, we request that fans refrain from any personal attacks.
We wish to assure you that the scheduled release of Jimin’s second solo album, “MUSE,” will proceed as planned without any impact.
Jimin’s pre-release single “‘Smeraldo Garden Marching Band” (featuring Loco) will drop online on June 28 at 1 p.m. KST, three weeks ahead of the release of his second solo album “MUSE” on July 19.
