ADOR Refutes NJZ’s (NewJeans) Preferential Treatment Allegations Regarding Louis Vuitton Ambassadorship

On March 7, KST, NJZ (NewJeans) appeared at the Seoul Central District Court for the first round of interrogations regarding their legal dispute with ADOR.

The group’s legal representative made claims that HYBE had discriminated against NJZ, compared to other groups under the label. The claim of LE SSERAFIM debuting before NewJeans, hence breaking the alleged promise to Min Hee Jin that her group would be HYBE’s first girl group was also brought up before the court.

They accused HYBE of reaching out to a luxury brand, requesting them to appoint LE SSERAFIM as brand ambassador shortly after Hyein was announced as an ambassador for the same. It is understood that the brand in question is Louis Vuitton.

Additionally, Hyein was chosen as the ambassador for a specific brand, but suddenly, LE SSERAFIM was also named as ambassadors. When we inquired with the brand, they confirmed that HYBE had requested it and assumed that they had talked about it with us first. The brand even apologized for the matter.

— NJZ’s legal representatives

Regarding this specific accusation, ADOR’s legal representative argued that LE SSERAFIM was chosen as ambassador “naturally through a friendly relationship” after the group attended the brand’s fashion show.

CEO Min is unilaterally claiming that the contract between Source Music artists and the luxury brand was facilitated by utilizing the network discovered during the NewJeans member’s ambassador contract process, and that ADOR should have obtained prior consent. However, the contract between the brand and Source Music was formed naturally through a friendly relationship that developed after the artist attended the brand’s fashion show.

— ADOR’s legal representatives

They also brought up BTS in the counter-argument, reasoning that the group was the first global ambassador for the brand but ADOR never sought BIGHIT MUSIC‘s consent before signing with Louis Vuitton.

Additionally, before NewJeans’ Hyein signed as a global ambassador, BTS’s J-Hope had already signed with the brand, and prior to that, BTS as a group was the first in the world to work as global ambassadors for the brand. Following the same logic, ADOR should have also obtained consent from Big Hit Music (J-Hope/BTS), who had previously signed ambassador contracts with the brand before ADOR.

— ADOR’s legal representatives

ADOR’s counter-statement has left netizens divided.

• “They’re really making this complicated.”
• “There’s no place where they haven’t interfered.”
• “But Hyein really suits Louis Vuitton.”
• “This is really crazy.”
• “It must be nice for LE SSERAFIM to receive love from Bang Si Hyuk like this.”
• “Wow.”