Journalist Exposes The Alleged Verbal And Physical Assault Of A Chilean Translator By OMEGA X’s Staff
K-Pop company Spire Entertainment and its CEO Kang Seong Hee have recently come under heavy fire for the verbal and physical abuse of boy group OMEGA X. As netizens continue to raise awareness about the issue, other incidents of abuse by OMEGA X’s management are coming to light, including the alleged mistreatment of a translator that was hired for the group’s concert in Chile.
While CEO Kang has denied the allegations via statements distributed to Korean media and her own social media, netizens have continued to raise strong concerns about the treatment of OMEGA X at the hands of her company. Everyone from non-fans to close friends of the members has come forward to show their support, as the overwhelming evidence paints a pretty conclusive picture.
Now, Chilean K-Pop journalist Rebecca Medina has taken to Twitter to expose how OMEGA X’s management allegedly treated the translator hired for the group’s September concert in Santiago, Chile.
According to Medina, translator Fernanda Burgos, who is an experienced translator (and singer), agreed to translate at the concert only to be paid for 3 hours of work…where she had actually worked for 10.
From the beginning, and throughout the 10 hours that Burgos was working, she suffered constant verbal abuse, often xenophobic in nature.
The staff then allegedly repeatedly told her not to interact with OMEGA X, despite it being her job to translate for them.
After that began the threats: “You can’t look at the boys,” “you can’t go near them.”
— Rebecca Medina
Things escalated when a female manager grabbed Burgos roughly by the arm, saying, “We need to talk.” Burgos asked her to let go, but the woman allegedly then grabbed her even more aggressively. Throughout the exchange, the manager constantly spoke to her informally in Korean, even though Burgos used formal address out of politeness.
Not only that, but the manager was also notably condescending, talking down to her and being simply “awful,” according to Burgos.
In a message to Medina, Burgos said, “The manager was rude all the time, she always spoke to me informally and never looked at me.”
Considering how the staff treated a stranger like her, it’s hard to imagine how they must treat the members. The members themselves were incredibly kind and polite. It was their managers’ behavior that stood out as abusive.
In fact, it got to the point where Burgos was driven to tears by the verbal abuse, xenophobia, and condescension.
And unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who was mistreated. According to Medina, the team of Kpop Chile Oficial, a Chilean K-Pop news source, were also heavily mistreated by OMEGA X’s staff.
Commenting on her experience, Fernanda Burgos detailed the open disrespect she had faced, specifically from that one manager.
These boys really are like sunshine. I was able to work with them at their concert in Santiago. They are joyful, hardworking, and very respectful. Every time they saw me they would thank me for my hard work. Their staff, on the other hand, were incredibly xenophobic. The first thing the did when they saw me was say to each other IN KOREAN “Is she the translator? She’s not Korean!”—while looking me up and down. And that was only the beginning, because despite the fact that not all the staff members treated me badly, I had an encounter with one of the [female] managers. I was left with so much rage that I ended up crying behind the stage curtains. It was a truly unpleasant experience.
— Fernanda Burgos
After the video of CEO Kang’s verbal and physical assault of OMEGA X, specifically, leader Jaehan, was released, it’s hardly surprising that people who were hired to work on the tour also allegedly faced mistreatment. It remains to be seen what the outcome of the OMEGA X controversy will be, but in the meantime, fans will continue to show support and demand that Spire Entertainment take responsibility for its treatment of the members and other alleged victims.
Read Rebecca Medina’s full thread in English right here…
(ENG) ABOUT THE PHYSICAL ABUSE SUFFERED BY THE INTERPRETER OF OMEGA X IN CHILE BY THE GROUP'S STAFF
This is the true about what REALLY happened on OX's concert in Chile where the staff abused the translator, who was even underpaid.#PROTECTOMEGAX https://t.co/fAXfkkUJPS
— Rebecca Medina (@rebeccavmedina) October 24, 2022
…and the original one in Spanish right here.
SOBRE EL ABUSO FÍSICO DEL STAFF DE OMEGA X EN EL CONCIERTO DE CHILE:
Esta es la verdad sobre lo sucedido en el concierto de OMEGA X en Chile, donde la manager del grupo abusó fisicamente de la intérprete coreano-español que contrataron y mal pagaron.#PROTECTOMEGAX pic.twitter.com/212TFayiUq
— Rebecca Medina (@rebeccavmedina) October 24, 2022
For details of the full transcript of the video of the assault click on the link below.
Exposed: Here’s The Full Video Transcript of Spire Entertainment’s CEO Abusing OMEGA X Members
