Thread by @todatugu

A thread showing evidence that Gfriend was actually terminated months before their contract expires, without discussion.

And why the companies Hybe and Source lied to the public with false news about "extensive discussion", "contract expiry" and "Gfriend choosing not to renew".

Hybe lied to the public about ‘extensive discussion’, contract nonrenewal/expiry, and that it was Gfriend’s choice.

The truth is that there was no discussion and Gfriend had no idea their termination was going to be announced on 18th May.

Gfriend’s 7 year contract is supposed to expire in November 2021, about 6 months later from May 2021.

And yet the company made it seem as if it was supposed to expire in May 2021. Not even close.

What is contract termination? Termination refers to forcefully ending the contract before it expires.

What is contract expiry? A standard kpop artist contract lasts for 7 years. At the end of the 7 years, it expires.

Why 7 years? See pic attached.

Gfriend's contract is not a 6 year contract. They officially debuted in Jan 2015. And they celebrated their 6th anniversary on Jan 2021, *this year.*

And their contract did not end there. So if it's not a six year contract, it's a standard 7 year contract.

In case of any confusion, I am talking about the artist contract. Not to be confused with a trainee contract, these are two different types of contracts.

When does Gfriend's official 7 year artist contract begin? Theoretically, it should begin when they start promoting as artists, their debut date in Jan 2015. However, their debut was delayed, it was originally supposed to be in November 2014. See pic

m.inews24.com/v/859672#_DYAD
Link to above article. So if their original debut date was Nov 2014, a 7 year contract would end on Nov 2021. Not May 2021. They are several months difference between the two.

There are*
Since their contract date ends in Nov 2021 this year, Hybe has terminated them about six months before their contract expiry.

But they (Hybe) have created rumours about Gfriend choosing not to renew. And they blame the disbandment on Gfriend.

This termination on 22 May has nothing to do with Gfriend's choice. If really they chose not to renew, the contract will not terminate itself on the spot.

It would still have ended on Nov 2021. This is just how contracts work.

So we know Gfriend's contract was no way close to expiring on 22 May. This "disbandment" did not happen because Gfriend "chose not to renew", because it is not yet time to renew.

The time to renew would be in Nov 2021, several months later.

How did this fake news begin??

The rumours that Gfriend "disbanded because they chose not to renew" was started by none other than Hybe.

They started this rumour by leaking the disbandment news to the press. They also gave to the press the rumour that it was Gfriend choosing not to renew.

The news leak.

The news leak to the press was also covered in this thread.

Before Hybe announced the "gfriend disbandment", a korean news website, published an article about Gfriend disbanding. How would they know before Hybe announces it?

The only way Tensasia would know before the announcement is if Hybe purposely told them.

Therefore, through a news company, HYBE started the rumour that the disbandment was happening because Gfriend failed to renew, pushing the blame to Gfriend.
Link.
tenasia.hankyung.com/music/article/…

Hybe wanted to be really careful about lying directly in their official 'disbandment' announcement, but by using a news company, they can create false rumours about Gfriend's 'choice', without the lies being directly made by the company.

They lied about Gfriend. This is slander

It was a calculated media attack on Gfriend purposely designed to spread rumours about contract expiry, so that Hybe could cover up the fact that it was a contract termination, not contract expiry.

Hybe made the fake news leak to hide that it was them that terminated Gfriend.

They spread this false rumour to protect their own company name, as they do not want to be known as "the company that terminated Gfriend before their contract expires"

In other words, they want to hide the truth. Media manipulation to save their own skin.

Which is why Korean fans of Gfriend asked, why the media reported about the termination, saying it's Gfriend's fault, before Hybe even announces the termination?

How does this media company know about Hybe's internal affairs, that even the Source Music staff doesn't know?

Once Hybe had gotten the news company to publish false rumours that Gfriend's contract was expiring, and that Gfriend had chosen not to renew, Hybe is now in a good spot to announce the "disbandment of Gfriend".

Because the fake news story protecting Hybe has been published.

And they announced the "disbandment" only a few minutes after the news company published their article.

This is not a coincidence. They were ready for it. They were waiting for it. Their statement announcing the "conclusion of Gfriend" was already written and ready to post...

they were ready to post on Weverse, another company that Hybe owns. About "Gfriend's conclusion".

And Hybe uses the 'source music' name as a scapegoat, as they own Source too.
Even though most of Source were shown to have no idea about the termination. Even people in charge

Even the people in Source Music in charge of Gfriend's schedule didn't know about the termination, how would Gfriend know about it? Source music had to abruptly cancel the schedule they had already prepared.

Source was prepared to release video content and pictures on 18th May

The explanation for the media company reporting the "disbandment" before Hybe announces it:

Hybe engaged the media company to create a false rumour that Gfriend choose not to renew, and that their contract was expiring in May.

Even though the contract was actually until Nov21.

That is the only possible conclusion for why Tensasia knew about it before Source staff, and before Hybe announces it themselves.

And it explains why they published untrue statements damaging Gfriend's reputation. They made it look as if Gfriend choose to disband.

This is extremely damaging to Gfriend's reputation as it makes the girls look like they hid the "disbandment" and "non-renewal" from their fans.

Not only did Hybe disrespect the group by terminating them with only 4 days notice, Hybe also slandered their own artists.

To date, Hybe still has not explained why the media company published defamatory statements against Gfriend, a few mins before Hybe's announcement.

Despite repeated demands from the fans, Hybe avoids answering it.

They can't explain their planned slander of their own artists.

Please share the thread and spread the truth that Gfriend's contract did not expire on May 2021.

And Gfriend did not "fail to renew" their contract, because the contract was not expiring.

They were terminated before contract expiry by Hybe.

Don't let the company's lies win.

Not only did Hybe lie through the media that Gfriend's contract was expiring, they repeatedly lied through their announcements on Weverse too.

They called the termination a "Conclusion of contract" which has a completely different meaning and is another lie that hides the truth.

Meritz Securities reports tentative plans of big entertainment label artists for 2021

HYBE (Big Hit Entertainment)
Hybe's 2021 plans in images below:

GFRIEND (yeojachingu/여자친구) in 3rd row from top

knetizen.com/meritz-securit…

(Thanks to KnightFriend6)

2Q21 means 2nd quarter of 2021 (Apr, May, Jun)
4Q21 means 4th quarter of 2021 (Oct, Nov, Dec)

Schedule for GFRIEND in 2Q21: 6월 어니 10집《8만장 가정)

According to google translate, seems that Gfriend is supposed to release an album in 2Q21

Hybe's schedule:

4Q21 means 4th quarter of 2021 (Oct, Nov, Dec)

Schedule for GFRIEND in 4Q21: 재계약

재계약: contract renewal

Again, evidence that Gfriend's contract renewal is in Nov 2021. Not May 2021.

Gfriend was abruptly terminated by HYBE 6 months before contract expiry

Hybe 2021 Schedule (Gfriend)

As reported on knetizen.com, on April 14 2021. Schedules can change, but contract renewal/contract expiry dates do not change.

Hybe needs to:
1. Admit the truth about Gfriend's contract expiry date
2. Explain why they slandered Gfriend's reputation saying that they choose not to renew.
3. Admit to media manipulation
4. Apologize to the fans for lying+hiding the termination
5. Explain the cancelled album

Hybe needs to:
6: Admit that they announced the termination of Gfriend without discussion with the artists.

Or, explain and provide proof of the date when the artists found out they were being terminated.

All the evidence shows that Gfriend only found out about the abrupt termination when it was announced to the public, 18th May.

Furthermore, Hybe slanders the artists by saying Gfriend chose to do this.

This is an extremely disrespectful and unethical way to terminate artists.

Hybe is welcome to prove any of our points wrong. Or apologise+ admit your mistreatment of artists.

Until then, our goal as fans of Gfriend is to spread the truth of your unethical practices, towards your artists and the fans.

Our goal is for as many people to know as possible.

Some info on Hybe and Source Music

Hybe acquired SourceM in 2019 and therefore acquired control over it.
Hybe now owns 80% of SourceM's shares, which is more than controlling interest, and
SourceM is now Hybe's subsidiary.

Which means Hybe owns and controls Source Music.

Pic: Hybe's listing of Source Music as their subsidiary in their report, with 80% shareholding.

This means that in all matters, especially important matters such as the termination of Source Music's only artists,

Hybe has the final say.

How much autonomy/independence HYBE wants to give to SourceM is up to HYBE.

HYBE may not get involved in small things, but at the end of the day HYBE still has the final say on Gfriend.

In important matters of course HYBE will get involved. HYBE is a company, not a charity.

As mentioned, the SourceM staff were so unaware, and Source even had a schedule where they were prepared to release Gfriend content on the day itself (18th May), and had to abruptly cancel it after the announcement, shows that Hybe is more involved than Source on the termination.

Even IF we pretend the above didn't happen, and we pretend that Source Music initiated the movement to terminate Gfriend, guess who has the final say? HYBE.

No one in Source Music can override Hybe that owns 80% of Source Music. There is no scenario where Hybe is not to blame.

Two directors of Hybe were also appointed as directors of Source Music, to oversee and control Source music.

There might be more directors appointed by Hybe other than the two listed.

These directors answer to Hybe. This is a normal method of control used by parent companies.

Another proof of SourceM being used as a scapegoat by Hybe:

If Bighit(Hybe) created the faulty form that leaked personal information, but Source Music apologises for the leak, instead of Bighit apologising, then it's obvious Bighit is using "source music" as a scapegoat.

When the personal information leak occurred and was reported in the news, the Korean fans rightfully blamed Hybe, because it was obvious to all that Hybe was using Source Music as a scapegoat.

Without even talking about the pictures above.

We now have a proper translation of the schedule above that Gfriend was supposed to release a mini album in June:

'That's 10th mini album in June and they assume it'd sell about 80.000 copies'

(Thanks to Ste_gOsH930)

So Gfriend was preparing to release a mini album in June, but Hybe terminated them in May.

Schedule for GFRIEND in 2Q21: 6월 어니 10집《8만장 가정)

'That's 10th mini album in June and they assume it'd sell about 80.000 copies'

More lies slandering the members of Gfriend:

"After careful consideration, extensive discussion, Gfriend and Source have come to an agreement"

"Both the artists and the company worked till the final moments of our discussions"

Now we shall analyse why these are lies.

We shall analyze the evidence which shows that the members of Gfriend had no choice but to find out about their forced termination probably at the very last minute,

on the 18th May when Hybe slandered them saying that "Gfriend chose to disband/chose not to renew"

If the Source Music staff including those handling the Gfriend schedule weren't aware, then it is already extremely unlikely that Gfriend would know.

It already seems most likely: Gfriend also found out about their abrupt termination the same way the fans/staff did, in shock.

Hybe needs to:
7. Explain where is the Gfriend content "Special clips" and "G-Post" that was already prepared but cancelled on 18th May itself.

8. Explain what it will do with the remaining unreleased Gfriend content.

Gfriend did not show any signs they knew about the termination, in fact, they actually left many clues that they had no idea they were going to be terminated.

Just 5 days(13may) before the termination announcement(18may):

(copied)

If Gfriend knew they were going to get abruptly terminated by Hybe they would not have said things like this:

🐶: I'll reveal it(stories) when I'm on knowing bros
/
🦊: Sorry but I won't include these(additional drawings) in my signature anymore (album signing)

4 days before the termination announcement. 14th May 2021.
"When can we meet" implies Sinb had no idea, and was just thinking about when she could see her fans again.

This is because they have hardly any opportunity to see their fans during the pandemic.

"they say this situation is frustrating for them" (they are reading comments from fans talking about not being able to see Gfriend during the pandemic)

On 14th May, 4 Days before Hybe announced their termination.
Sinb: "After this song... I have to practice"

On 14th May, 4 days before Hybe terminated Gfriend. Gfriend Eunha & Sinb going to practice.

Shows that they have no idea they were going to be terminated.

And yet the company lies saying there was "extensive discussion" with the artists.

Gfriend's Yuju on 17th May, the night before the termination announcement (on 18May morning), is still going to / is still in the practice room.

Imagine how it must feel for these artists that are so dedicated, they are constantly going to practice on their own.

Imagine how it must feel for the Gfriend members to wake up and find that their company has terminated them, & cancelled their album, schedule, and home? And...

And also imagine how it feels to be framed when the company makes you look like you have been lying to your fans.

Hybe announced to the public that the Gfriend members had been planning to disband, even though they actually had no idea.

Just to hide that it was a termination.

Thank you for reading.

An open invitation to all to use the topics/info covered in this thread. I encourage you to make threads/videos/anything, or just share. I take no credit & don't need any.

No artist deserves this kind of mistreatment and the lies hurting and framing them.

Also, if anyone knows anyone
who has the ability to spread any of this information to more people, and is likely to do so, (e.g. twitter/yt channels/media companies)

Please feel free to reach out to them directly, or qrt/dm me so I can reach out to them.

Thank you for sharing!

Our goal now is to reach mainstream news so that everyone can see the truth that it is a termination, not a non-renewal.

All of your support helps us towards that goal.

There is no way we can't do this.
The truth will win.
All we need is one, then there will be a landslide.

Please help to share or rt so that more people can be aware of the kind of mistreatment artists can face,

and also help us to spread the truth so that the artists of Gfriend and their fans can gain some help against this injustice.