BELIFT LAB Caught Deleting Comments “Hitting The Nail On The Head” On Recent Plagiarism Denial Video
This article is part of our coverage of HYBE vs. ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin. You can read more and view the entire timeline here.
In a move that is baffling everyone, BELIFT LAB recently released a “bizarre” video refuting the claims of allegation made against them by ADOR and Min Hee Jin. Titled “BELIFT LAB’s Statement In Response To Plagiarism Accusations”, BELIFT LAB’s Co-CEOs attempt to rid the group of long-standing plagiarism allegations, particularly between NewJeans and ILLIT.
In the video, some of the claims that BELIFT makes includes that plagiarism accusations are a “rite of passage” for all groups debuting after NewJeans; that their branding book for ILLIT included the phrase “NOT NewJeans” to use as proof against plagiarism; and that while NewJeans allegedly targeted older fans while ILLIT’s audience is geared more towards teens.
There was plenty more “evidence” shared in the video, such as claiming that NewJeans itself plagiarized other K-Pop groups. But based on the general negative response to it, it seems that most K-Pop fans aren’t buying their attempts to clear themselves and are criticizing BELIFT’s move to “re-engage” their feud with ADOR. You can watch the video for yourself here.
Unsurprisingly, the comments section of the video is pretty critical. At this time, it has just 7.7k likes for the over 530k views it has, with over 30k comments. Netizens couldn’t help but notice that one comment in particular that seems to hit the nail on the head in this situation seems to have been deleted by the label. It brings up how, in order to properly prove that they didn’t plagiarize NewJeans, those managing ILLIT should show the planning stages of their process.
“No but all things aside, if you want to clearly prove that you didn’t plagiarize, shouldn’t you bring evidence from the planning stage, such as sketches and reference images, etc., to refute it…?”
After the comment was removed, more people have started leaving the same comment so that it has captured the public attention. It’s led to even further criticism of BELIFT, some of which you can read in the comments section of a forum post about the situation.
The video that BELIFT released definitely seems to be having the opposite effect of what they expected, and we’ll have to wait and see what kinds of consequences come from it.