K-pop group OMEGA X was hit by the agency and dropped in the US

K-pop group OMEGA X has been making frequent headlines in South Korean news over the past week. It’s not about their music, it’s about the way they were treated by their company, SPIRE Entertainment, during their US tour. This is what happened.

Over the past few days, a dramatic story has emerged The world of K-pop. Video clips have emerged of members of K-pop group OMEGA X being verbally abused and pushed by their female CEO Kang Seong-hee. After that, the 11 members left behind in the US and their CEO and other staff went back to South Korea.

Omega X

Omega X is a relatively young boy band. The eleven-member group debuted last year with the song Vamos. This month they are ‘Stand Up!’ They went to America for the first time for a tour. But things went wrong towards the end of their tour.

On October 23, fans shared on social media that they saw the group in their hotel lobby. They saw SPIRE Entertainment CEO Kang Seong-hee scolding and beating the members. A fan also shared an audio clip in which the shouting could be clearly heard. At the end of the piece you can also hear a hand clap and then you can hear someone crying.

Listen to the episode here:

Pictures

A day after the fan’s audio clip was shared, South Korean news outlet SBS News released new images. Footage taken after the OMEGA X concert in Los Angeles shows the group’s leader, Jae-Han, struggling. He says he is sick and can’t stand anymore. But the CEO disagreed. She shouts, “You think losers can love you people?”

She then speaks privately to Jae-han, meanwhile sitting on the floor. “Are you so tired, Kim Jae-han? If you’re always sick, you should stop being a singer.” When another member of the group steps in for Jae-han and says that he is really sick, she also yells that he is acting. In the next piece, the group is seen in the lobby of their hotel. There, Kang is still yelling at Jae-han, indicating that he has a feeling he’s going to pass. In doing so, Kang pulls his collar hard, causing the singer to fall to the ground. We see him in tears as he needs support to get into the elevator.

Watch footage of the incident here (with English subtitles):

Left in Los Angeles

Later, new facts followed. SBS News He shared that eleven members of the group were stranded at the Los Angeles airport. Their return tickets to Seoul, South Korea were canceled by their agency. All eleven members had to go back to Korea while the staff and the CEO went home.

With the help of their parents, they were eventually able to book tickets to go home. On October 25, word came that they had arrived back in Seoul.

Agency: “Misunderstanding”

Initially, Kang Seong-hee said by phone that the audio clips were being shared by haters of the agency who wanted to spread fake news. But after the pictures also surfaced, an official statement on the incident followed. Everything was described as a “misunderstanding”.

According to a statement released by the website Game Chosun, the agency writes: “We would like to apologize for causing concern about what happened. The images appeared at the end of a tour that began in Guadalajara, Mexico on September 16 and ended in Los Angeles on October 22. At that time, the members of OMEGA X were discussing their hard work and plans for the future. At that moment, an argument ensued in which everyone quickly became emotional and raised their voices due to their exhaustion.

The company says everything has been discussed in the meantime and everyone has agreed to continue working together with mutual respect.

K-pop

The OMEGA X incident shows that although a lot has changed in K-pop in recent years, there are still problems in the industry. Fortunately, these are more the exception than the rule.

So K-pop group The Rose sued their agency J&Star Company in 2020 Because they refused to pay the bond. After an agreement was reached between the members of The Rose and the agency, the band is back under a new agency.