DSP Media Addresses The Specific Alleged Incidents Regarding Bullying Accusations Involving APRIL And Lee Hyunjoo
DSP Media made an additional statement to address specific incidents brought up on community sites about APRIL’s bullying allegations. They previously released a statement denying rumors of the members bullying their former member, Lee Hyunjoo.
The company addressed various issues in the new statement, including KARD Jeon Somin‘s alleged involvement as the former leader of the group and accusations that focused on Lee Naeun specifically.
The agency explained that Jeon Somin had only worked hard while promoting as the leader of APRIL and that she never had an issue with specific members.
Jeon Somin spent a long and ardent time as a trainee since she joined us at 16 years of age. After debuting in APRIL, she tried her hardest as the leader. It is false that she bullied or specifically disliked any particular member. Jeon Somin and Kim Chaewon spent 3 years together as trainees and were hence close to begin with. There was no reason for them to make an effort to be closer.
— DSP Media
Regarding the post about the members fighting over Hyunjoo’s tumbler, the agency explained that it was a simple misunderstanding that was easily resolved right away.
There were about 40-50 tumblers in the dorm at that point in time, and one member once filled it with soybean stew and brought it to the practice rooms to eat with the other members. When Lee Hyunjoo explained that it was her tumbler, Lee Naeun immediately apologized and that was the extent of the occurrence. The members, including Lee Hyunjoo, shared it together.
— DSP Media
The agency claims that they’ve reviewed old CCTV footage and found that no such incidences alleged through the online posts had occurred.
The company checked the CCTV regarding accusations of Lee Hyunjoo being a victim, and we did not find anything that showed such incidences. We have also shared this truth with Lee Hyunjoo and her mother.
— DSP Media
They went onto explain more allegations before requesting the public to refrain from spreading false, unconfirmed rumors. They warned that they will be taking legal action against those who falsely accuse the APRIL members, spread unfounded rumors, or photoshop images to create a false narrative.
The full translated statement is as follows.
Due to the posts on community portals, we’d like to make an additional official statement.
Hello. This is DSP Media. We’d like to further explain the unsavory issue between APRIL and former member Lee Hyunjoo that have been circulating online communities. Although we did not wish to mention the related parties as they are under our label, due to the severity of the matter, we decided to further explain the issue after re-confirming the facts.
– Regarding Jeon Somin.
Jeon Somin spent a long and ardent time as a trainee since she joined us at 16 years of age. After debuting in APRIL, she tried her hardest as the leader. It is false that she bullied or specifically disliked any particular member. Jeon Somin and Kim Chaewon spent 3 years together as trainees and were hence close to begin with. There was no reason for them to make an effort to be closer.
– Regarding the tumbler issue.
There were about 40-50 tumblers in the dorm at that point in time, and one member once filled it with soybean stew and brought it to the practice rooms to eat with the other members. When Lee Hyunjoo explained that it was her tumbler, Lee Naeun immediately apologized and that was the extent of the occurrence. The members, including Lee Hyunjoo, shared it together.
– Regarding the shoes issue.
The company gave the members 12 pairs of shoes from 2 types of designs as presents. Four members had the same shoe size and hence the issue arose.
– Regarding the cursing before broadcast incident.
This is false as no member cursed before a broadcast.
– Regarding daily life.
The company checked the CCTV regarding accusations of Lee Hyunjoo being a victim, and we did not find anything that showed such incidences. We have also shared this truth with Lee Hyunjoo and her mother.
– Regarding their manager.
It is true that there was a female manager who was with them 24/7, and that they were all extremely close. It is false that the manager mentioned in the posts was dating a member, and it is false that the manager was biased towards a specific member.
– Regarding the issue of greeting Lee Hyunjoo’s mother.
The members knew it was a grave situation so they did not know what to say and just passed by in silence. This resulted in a misunderstanding.
We’d like to apologize that such a situation has occured where we had to make such explanations. However, due to the unverified posts made by 3rd parties, we could not stand by and see the mentioned members being harmed. Hence we ended up talking about the past, which we had no intention of bringing up.
Shortly after the unsavory issue between APRIL members and Lee Hyunjoo came to light, there have been posts that came about which talked about unverified incidents as if they were the truth. The members are once again suffering due to these posts.
Not only will we be taking strong legal action against posting and spreading unconfirmed false information, but we will also be taking action against the photoshopped images going around on community sites. Thank you.
— DSP Media
