Netizens Expose Spire Entertainment’s CEO And Chairman’s Social Media Activity Following Abuse Of OMEGA X

Netizens are exposing the social media activity of Spire Entertainment‘s CEO and Chairman.

Throughout the past few months, FOR X (OMEGA X’s fandom) have become increasingly concerned for the members. In August, OMEGA X were seemingly banned from using their social media. After that, the group carried out their tour of North America, 2022 OMEGA X WORLD TOUR [CONNECT: Don’t give up], which was also fraught with issues.

After the tour wrapped with OMEGA X’s final show in Los Angeles, FOR X reported witnessing the members being verbally and physically abused by Spire Entertainment‘s CEO, Kang Seong Hee.

Guys, I was waiting outside for the Uber Eats that I ordered and I saw the company CEO hitting the members. I really didn’t know what to do since my hands were shaking so much. They were being hit right in front of me but I couldn’t do anything.

— @hwi_418

얘들아 우리 밖에서 음식 시킨 거 우버 기다리고 있는데
애들 회사 대표님이 애들 때리는 거 봤어
진짜로 손이 너무 떨려서 어떻게 해야 될지 모르겠어 애들이 눈앞에서 맞고 있는데 아무것도 못해 pic.twitter.com/vJEqNPzx5n

— 유채 (@hwi_418) October 23, 2022

CEO Kang Seong Hee: What have you guys done for me? Did you take care of me when I was having a hard time?

CEO Kang Seong Hee: Stop?

Member: [inaudible]… it was right…

CEO Kang Seong Hee: Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are?

Member: [A member] is going to faint.

CEO Kang Seong Hee: I’ve already fainted before!

*sound of someone falling down*

Member: Oh!

CEO Kang Seong Hee: Get up! Now!

Member: What are you doing?!

*sound of a thud*

*sound of someone crying*

Spire Entertainment has addressed the issue in a statement, claiming that “voices were raised” during a tour discussion between the management and the members.

Following the month-long tour, which began in Guadalajara, Mexico, on September 16 and ended in LA, USA, on October 22, we had a celebratory team-wide dinner. The conversation, which has circulated online via social media, was recorded at that dinner.

At the time, having completed all legs of the tour, the OMEGA X members and Spire Entertainment team were discussing the hard work that went into the concerts, as well as the future that is to come. During this discussion, we also talked about certain moments that caused disappointments in one another. And in doing so, the conversation got heated, and voices were raised.

— Spire Entertainment

Additionally, SBS News reported an exclusive statement from CEO Kang Seong Hee herself in which she addressed the abuse but defended her actions.

It’s a one-sided allegation started by an anti-fan who is hostile toward the management.

I was exhausted because I’ve been up for several nights in a row. I even had a bloody nose because I was so tired. But the members didn’t think to make me feel better. They didn’t care about me. So I felt upset and acted out of disappointment.

Usually, I’m extremely polite toward the members. I even use honorifics when I talk to them.

— Spire Entertainment CEO Kang Seong Hee

Since then, Spire Entertainment warranted more backlash after a video was released by SBS that showed Kang Seong Hee verbally abusing and then physically assaulting leader Jaehan, who appeared to be having a panic attack. The attacks toward the members continued even at their hotel, and additional witnesses reported more instances of mistreatment.

SBS News shared a clip of OMEGA X's Jaehan who was seen having a panic attack and the CEO yelled at him: “Stand up. Stop being a K-pop idol if you're always sick like this.”

DANG! These boys deserve better protection from this kind of CEO!pic.twitter.com/qkrYpzp6z0

— BL Update  (@BLUPDATE2022) October 24, 2022

Likewise, netizens, such as @yves1uvsu on Twitter, have shared now-deleted posts from CEO Kang Seong Hee’s social media. They hope to expose her true character.

In a post, CEO Kang appeared to claim that although she was exhausted, she wanted to protect the members and the promises they’d made. She also appears to claim that the members are wearing a mask, perhaps alluding that they are hiding their true personalities.

I have a lot to say but…
What should I say…
I… Even though I was exhausted, as if I was dying… I wanted to protect [them/it].
Promise, responsibility… I wanted to fulfill them.
Please… Don’t live while wearing a mask…
I want to throw up because of that mask

— CEO Kang Seong Hee

She also criticized an unspecified OMEGA X member for sending flowers to her father’s funeral, as he mentioned the expense. CEO Kang also claimed to have taken responsibility for her father’s funeral and OMEGA X’s U.S. tour simultaneously.

One of the members once said…
The flowers I sent for your father’s funeral were a lot of money for me.
So I told [him].
If your first thought is money when you’re sending flowers, I didn’t want those kinds of flowers.
Everyone who came to my father’s funeral would have seen me working on my laptop even as I was preparing for my dad’s funeral because I wanted to take responsibility for the American tour..
If I hadn’t finished it then, this tour probably wouldn’t have happened..

— CEO Kang Seong Hee

CEO Kang claimed she had no direct contact with the OMEGA X members. Instead, there is agency staff in between them, but the evidence says otherwise.

A reporter asked me..
‘Can I call the members?’
I [said]… I don’t have the members’ phone numbers… The agency will have their numbers.
I always have a middle person…  when I care for the members…

— CEO Kang Seong Hee

In another post, CEO Kang took credit for OMEGA X’s successful North American tour. She said that everyone doubted her.

Everyone… told me to give up.
They said we wouldn’t even sell 100 seats…
3 cities in South America. 11 cities in North America, they doubted how I would fill up the venues…
They told me that this tour wasn’t possible to achieve for a team who debuted just over a year ago.
But… We are currently succeeding like this.
We are creating the best performances day by day.

— CEO Kang Seong Hee

CEO Kang’s acquaintances left comments related to the abuse scandal. So, she responded.

Comment: I don’t know why you’re acting like this when I only asked because I don’t know the facts… I never said you hit the members…. I asked the question because I was curious about the literal words since the company and the report won’t know.

CEO Kang Seong Hee: What sounds? Can you handle this comment if I didn’t hit them? I hit the members? Please talk to me after you’ve seen the comments. You’ll see how I’ve lived my life so far..

Another netizen brought up to CEO Kang that she claimed she didn’t have members’ numbers. Yet, in some of her posts, she clearly chatted with them via KakaoTalk.

Comment: You don’t know their numbers, but I see that you use KakaoTalk. Couldn’t you have created a group chat on KakaoTalk for the reporters to hold an interview? Voice talk, face talk, there are a lot of methods.

CEO Kang Seong Hee: I only talk through group chats.

Another netizen remarked on CEO Kang’s uploading of toxic posts related to those she works with. So, they questioned whether they have good relationships. Another comment, assumed to be CEO Kang’s, stated that everyone is human.

Comment 1: The CEO is uploading toxic posts to the employee, so how can it be true that they have a good relationship?

Comment 2: The CEO is human, the artists are also humans, and the fans are also humans… We are all the same.

A fan asked CEO Kang why she would post such things. She replied similarly to before that everyone is human.

Comment: Many fans want to know the purpose of why you uploaded these posts.

CEO Kang Seong Hee: There are differences between the life of an artist and the lives of the people behind them. I live in the latter. The company, OMEGA X, and the fans… are all the same humans… There’s no difference.

CEO Kang had also uploaded two long posts, one related to the issues with the American tour companies and travel and another about struggling with her father’s passing and funeral arrangements, all while still managing the U.S. tour.

Finally… My body is breaking down all at once..
I have to go check the rehearsal… but I’m not able to go..

The first company that we contracted for the American tour went bankrupt, and the company that took on the tour afterward was much worse scammers than we’d heard.

When we were receiving our tickets to fly back to Korea, we had to stay up all night fighting them.
The tickets that they gave us were on a Filipino airline. The ticket had us flying to Manila after the last LA concert, and stopping there for a day’s layover before flying back to Korea the next…
We asked for a nonstop ticket.
They said they’ll change it to a nonstop ticket, but that was just the start of their lies.

And then…
I saw that they canceled the flight to New York… and I had to think about a lot..
I wondered if we’d be able to trust this promoter and go on an 11-city-wide tour..
I believed we needed to go back to Korea.
But the next day, they changed it to a NY venue, and sent us the tickets. And they asked us to send out a false statement, saying that it was because the flight was canceled.

Since they sent us the tickets, it was right that the performers continued on with the performance, but there was no reason for us to lie.
When we arrived in NY, the promoters were not there to pick us up. We packed our bags into the bus that they claimed to have sent us.. even though we were exhausted for the past two days… We were just able to complete the NY concert with tears.

— CEO Kang Seong Hee

CEO Kang again attempted to justify her actions, explaining how “everything went downhill.” 

After finishing the NY concert… I received news of my dad’s passing.
I had a hard time because I was in a situation where I had to leave the members in this kind of environment and head back to Korea.
I had to work with my laptop on all through the funeral.
It went downhill starting from the Atlanta concert, where I wasn’t able to attend [with them].
Since the promoter canceled the venue, we had to start with product settings instead of the rehearsal.
We told the promoter…
to sincerely apologize to the artists…
We said we will no longer continue working with them if they didn’t…

Unreasonable and unbelievable situations continued to arise
So I… had to make a decision…
We’ll do it [without the promoter]… So we began preparing.
No one believed the promoter because they had already broken the contract many times…

After completing my dad’s funeral
I got on the first flight to America.

That’s how we restarted our tour. We began to host the tour without a promoter in order to fulfill the promise with the fans.

We were able to give all the MD that were promised to the fans, and we fulfilled the signed albums and the special promises…
Finally… Everything returned to how it should’ve been…

Maybe that’s why…
Because all of the tensions were finally resolved…
My body hurts so much that I can’t get up ㅜㅜ

— CEO Kang Seong Hee

As mentioned before, despite CEO Kang’s claims to not have members’ numbers, she had previously shared screenshots of their private KakaoTalk conversations, likely with the intention of showing how “caring” she is.

In one post, leader Jaehan asked her for a kinesiology tape, a treatment option if you’ve had an injury or illness that leads to mobility and motor function problems. She responded that she had put it outside his hotel room.

Jaehan: CEO, can I have the tape, please..

CEO Kang Seong Hee: I put it in front of the door~

Similarly, in another post, she laid out clothes for Jaehan and Yechan outside the hotel room on the ground. They thanked her.

CEO Kang Seong Hee: Left. Yechan / Right. Jaehan

Jaehan: Thank you, CEO!!!

Yechan: Thank you, I’ll wear it

Two of the posts shared included Jaehan, and another mentioned Yechan too. These are two of the main members CEO Kang targeted in the videos that exposed her abuse towards OMEGA X. So, it seems as though she intentionally shared these to argue that she cares for them.

TW/ verbal, physical abuse

I translated the video that SBS released showing CEO Kang verbally and physically abusing Omega X members especially in this video the victim is Kim Jaehan.#PROTECTOMEGAX #OMEGA_X pic.twitter.com/mLs3jteY3V

— kai🏹💙 #PROTECTOMEGAX (@likebinarystar) October 24, 2022

i’m utterly disgusted at the situation happening rn, the videos just came out and jaehan did being thrown around like a fucking doll, hangyeom is shown stopping the ceo from getting in the elevator to hit jaehan and yechan is getting hit too like what?!?! #PROTECTOMEGAX #OMEGAX

— gianna🕷️ hyuks gf (@slut4hyuk) October 24, 2022

This is too much! She even want to try get into the lift to continue abuse Jaehan until Hangyeom need to stop her! I really love hangyeom for doing this blocking her with another guy >< I stan the right man! #HearOmegaXVoice #PROTECTOMEGAX pic.twitter.com/xXOxaKeV1M

— Sofia ♡ 겸훈 (@BAILA_CON_OX) October 24, 2022

In another message, she shared a photo of an allergy relief medication box. She recommended Yang Hyuk take it if he struggled to sleep from itchiness. In the messages, she also told staff to come to pick it up for him.

CEO Kang Seong Hee: This works well on dermatitis. Hyuk, take a pill if it gets too itchy.

CEO Kang Seong Hee: Gwang Team, please come to my room and take it. Please give one to Hyuk if he can’t sleep from the itchiness.

Not only CEO Kang but Spire Entertainment’s Chairman has been exposed due to social media. Hwang Seong Woo (also known as Peter) is the Chairman and husband to CEO Kang, as discovered through social media posts, as they have many selfies together in unprofessional environments, such as on vacation.

they are married how can the chairman and ceo both get kicked out…?@swhwang21 do you think you are innocent? I know why you are calling yourself the shadow now. you are just as nasty as her. You should go down with her. pic.twitter.com/KrbYTB3sfo

— zaryah 🫧 #PROTECTOMEGAX (@hwichansgf) October 24, 2022

When the abuse news first surfaced, some mistakingly thought that the Spire Entertainment CEO was a man, assumed to be Hwang. So, some FOR X tried to correct this issue, and Hwang even liked and retweeted a post from his Twitter account. He previously created Twitter account @swhwang21 to share the OMEGA X members’ and FOR X’s posts. He also follows many fan accounts.

Not at the Spire chairman only RTed my tweet. Probably he want to say that he is not guilty as some mistook his name before but Mr. Hwang, you are in more higher position than CEO Kang right? PLS I hope you take the action to fire her out ASAP!

#HearOmegaXVoice #PROTECTOMEGAX pic.twitter.com/rx9WFFlLeO

— Sofia ♡ 겸훈 (@BAILA_CON_OX) October 24, 2022

Since the post above, he has not had any further internet activity.

Chairman Hwang is receiving more criticism for appearing only after OMEGA X paid their way to Korea after being stranded by the company. Read more below.

Netizens Express Concern For OMEGA X As Spire Entertainment’s Chairman Greets Them At Airport