Singer and KOZ Entertainment CEO Zico has personally addressed the allegations regarding his access to HYBE’s “music industry report.”
Previously, during the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee audit on October 24, it was revealed that HYBE had a weekly “music industry report” that was circulated among executives of the company. Totaling up to about 18,000 pages, the document included comments about K-pop artists from SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and various other agencies, maliciously commenting on their looks and skills, sharing unverified rumors, discussing plans to carry out viral marketing tactics against them, and more. About 20 pages of the report have been fully leaked online, resulting in strong backlash from the public. SEVENTEEN’s Seungkwan took to his Instagram to speak out about the issue, and HYBE CEO Lee Jae Sang also released a statement of apology on October 29.
Amid the controversy, on October 30, media outlet Hankyoreh reported that HYBE Chairman Bang Si Hyuk personally instructed company executives to circulate this document. According to email records obtained by Hankyoreh, on January 6, 2022, Bang Si Hyuk replied to Kang Myung Seok, the former head of Weverse Magazine who was known to have authored the document, stating, “Please add Zico to the list of document recipients.” The recipients also included Kim Joo Young, who was the Chief Human Resources Officer at the time and is now the CEO of ADOR.
As a label head under HYBE, Zico appears to have been included as a recipient of the document. This “weekly music industry report” was issued weekly and sent to C-level executives at HYBE and its subsidiary labels. According to this, it is expected that Zico has been receiving the document since last summer. However, it is not known whether Zico actually read the regularly sent document.
In response to the report, Zico took to his Instagram Stories to personally address the issue.
Read Zico’s Stories below:
I can’t believe this is happening….
After checking the report from today, I thought it would be best to address this directly, so I’m leaving this message.
I have never seen the document in question, nor have I ever opened the email itself.
I only found out that I was added as a recipient through today’s report.
To prevent any further misunderstandings, I directly requested KOZ to verify that I have not opened any of the emails or documents, and they confirmed this.
I hope everyone who was worried can have a peaceful day today.
KOZ Entertainment, founded and headed by Zico, was acquired by HYBE in 2020.
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