Belift Lab Shares ILLIT’s Response To NewJeans Situation, Including Hanni’s Accusations

It was previously reported on multiple accounts that ILLIT was accused of plagiarizing NewJeans. Not only this, but Hanni previously testified that a manager of another group at HYBE told the group to ignore her. Although Hanni did not mention the group’s name, HYBE themselves revealed in a later report that the manager belonged to ILLIT.

In an interview published on November 15, 2024, Belift Lab‘s CEO spoke to OSEN and shared ILLIT’s response to the entire matter.

ILLIT is very affected by the whole thing. This is a very important week for them. They are in the midst of a comeback and they have started promotions for their follow-up track. The members are very bravely moving forward, and actually the staff are being comforted by the members. At first, the members were struggling of course. They kept it to themselves as they worried that the company would be worried for them, and kept saying they were fine. The members were especially shocked by the “ignore them” controversy. The members themselves know the truth. They asked, “why is [Hanni] going that far,” “Did the CEO do anything wrong,” “Did we do anything wrong?” They seemed to be afraid to take the stage. I think they have grown stronger now. I anticipate that they will be great artists as long as they overcome this adversity. They have grown more mature. I’m sorry because they don’t feel like rookies to me. I’m saying this once more, but no one has ever told them to ignore her.

— Belift Lab CEO

You can read more about Hanni’s initial accusations below.

HYBE Slammed For Exposing ILLIT As Group Allegedly Instructed To Ignore NewJeans