CUBE Entertainment Under Fire For Poor Handling Of CLC’s Disbandment Announcement
CUBE Entertainment has been criticized for avoiding the announcement of CLC‘s disbandment.
On May 20, they posted an update on CLC’s official Twitter account announcing the closure of their U Cube page. This global fansite was where the members often posted photos and messages for their fans.
Hello. This is CUBE Entertainment.
First of all, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude for all of you for always loving and supporting CLC over the last seven years.
As CLC’s official activities have ended, we would like to inform you that the operation of CLC U CUBE will be terminated as of June 6, 2022.
We’re [planning] to allow you to read the posts for a certain period of time so that you can cherish the precious memories made with the CLC members.
— CUBE Entertainment
Half of the message included the details on the termination date of the U CUBE site. Afterwards, the company thanked fans for supporting CLC throughout their time as active singers. They also suggested that the members will stop promoting as a group at the very end of the message.
We would like to express our sincerest appreciation to you for your love and support for CLC. We will wholeheartedly cheer for each of the seven members making a new start on their own paths.
— CUBE Entertainment
Following this post, fans of the group aired their grievances at CUBE Entertainment for not releasing a separate and direct announcement of CLC’s disbandment, instead posting a message with the highlight being the fansite’s closure.
non-fans won’t get that cheshires aren’t mad that clc disbanded, it’s HOW it happened. the disrespect and pain the crystals had to go through that angers us. they deserved to be treated so well bc of the impact they had on kpop and yet they’re thrown away like they meant nothing.
— niza (@coloredseung) May 20, 2022
Cube out here doin the tiktok trend
“tell me you’re disbanded without actually telling me you’re disbanded”smh just let seunghee, yujin, and eunbin go now https://t.co/4la5r8CJCG
— Ky | KEP1ER for Queendom (@tofusupremacy_) May 20, 2022
They called them out for long dodging this news despite expectations from fans.
I tweeted this almost a year ago and sorn retweeted it. and every day since then, I’ve been proven right. U cannot call us delusional, when we always knew this would happen. U also can’t quietly disband them bc despite it all, cheshire are loud and annoying lmao https://t.co/Pnt1HpkBPR pic.twitter.com/rMGW1mLXF4
— niza (@coloredseung) May 20, 2022
Besides not receiving proper closure, Cheshires were worried about being left in the dark regarding the members’ futures.
this being 2 months late and we still have no clarity on seunghee’s activities like i refuse to believe there’s any sort of management within that company https://t.co/XvoB0MPd49
— 🛼⛅️ (@lovefromblink) May 20, 2022
Prior to this, there were several signs that CLC was effectively disbanded. Member Elkie had filed for the termination of her contract five months after the release of their last comeback, “HELICOPTER,” revealing that CUBE Entertainment told the girls they would have no more schedules for 2020, around two years before their contracts were scheduled to expire.
[They] informed the CLC members that there would no longer be any developmental support in 2020. Since then, CUBE Entertainment has not provided any reasonable plans for [Elkie’s] future, and instead their actions showed that they would no longer fulfill the terms of the contract.
— Elkie through her lawyer
She also later called them out for reportedly taking away the group’s opportunities such as by giving their song, “La Vie en Rose,” to IZ*ONE.
The song and opportunity that originally belonged to us were given to someone else and the situation felt so helpless. The seven of us worked really hard, but the agency took away our opportunities. I think the agency was way too out of line. I feel so disappointed. CLC did not have releases frequently…sometimes it took a year to have a new song or album.
When the agency said they will not give CLC any more resources, I thought there was no point for me to stay. As an artist I just wanted to meet with fans through my works. If nothing can be done, there’s nothing I can do to repay the fans, and I can’t accept that.
— Elkie
Moreover, in the first episode of Mnet‘s Girls Planet 999 which aired in August 2021, Yujin revealed that the company told the group that they would not be supported with further promotions that year. As a result, she continued her activities as a K-Pop idol with Kep1er instead of CLC.
The company said the team (CLC) would not have any more activities.
— Yujin
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