Lee Soo Man Declines Invite To Attend SM Entertainment’s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Lee Soo Man, the founder and former CEO of SM Entertainment (SM hereon), will reportedly not attend the “SMTOWN 2025” concert in celebration of his company’s 30th anniversary.

According to media reports, on January 10, KST, Lee declined the invitation to the event. Previously, SM had announced that they had contacted Lee Soo Man and all former artists affiliated with the label to invite them to the celebration. On January 10, a representative of Lee confirmed that an invitation had been received through mail, but Lee was overseas and learned about the concert invitation through news reports.

Producer Lee Soo Man will not be attending ‘SMTOWN Live 2025.’ He learned about the invitation through the news and we confirmed that the invitation came through registered mail.

— Lee Soo Man’s representative

SM Entertainment is set to hold the “SMTOWN Live 2025” concert in Seoul on January 11 and 12 at the Gocheok Sky Dome to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The concert will then continue with stops in Mexico City and LA, Califronia in May, London in June, and Tokyo in August.

While the concert has received much hype from fans, it has also been at the centre of multiple controversies, with some key SM artists, such as Girls’ Generation‘s Taeyeon and Red Velvet‘s Wendy, sitting it out. You can read more about the controversies here.