I'm still deciding on whether or not I want to continue the Into the K-hole series, but I thought I would give an update on the latest happenings with NewJeans

Background

Episode II of Into the K-hole: https://rdrama.net/post/327370/into-the-khole-episode-ii-the#m-actionsmodal

For those who don't want to read all that shit or need more context:

Back in November, NewJeans tried to claim that their exclusive contract with Ador was automatically terminated due to major violations by Ador. Rather than file for contract termination in a civil court, they simply insisted that the contract was terminated and that they could begin seeking independent oppurtunities. Since the NewJeans ip was owned by Ador, they began marketing themselves as NJZ; creating social media accounts, seeking endorsements, scheduling a show in Hong Kong, and even recording new music. In order to prevent this, Ador filed a lawsuit to confirm the validity of the contract and sought an injunction to prevent the members of NewJeans from engaging in independent activities. The first hearing for the injunction was held on March 7th.

The Hearings

On March 7th, the two parties met in court to present evidence. ADOR presented a total of 229 slides. NewJeans presented 93 slides. NewJeans' arguments included:

• ADOR was favoring other HYBE girl groups over NewJeans, most notably Le Sserafim and Illit.

• Illit was specifically created to plagiarize NewJeans and steal their success.

• An incident between NJ member Hanni and the group Illit's manager was not properly addressed by Ador.

ADOR's rebuttal included the following arguments:

• Through their exclusive contract ADOR fulfilled their obligations to provide opportunities and distribute profits (5 billion won to each member).

• A KakaoTalk conversation between Hanni and Min Hee Jin related to the'hallway ignoring incident. The conversation showed Hanni being uncertain about what the manager had said and that she did not consider it a significant issue at the time.

• t would not make sense for a company whose purpose is to make profit to discriminate against or sabotage their own successful artists and lose a revenue source.

This first hearing ended with the Judge setting a second hearing on the 14th, which would be both sides final chance to provide evidence. This second hearing came and went with the only additional evidence being claims of Illit being rude with no supporting evidence being provided.

This past Friday, the 21st, the Judge ruled in favor of ADOR, granting an injunction that would prevent NJZ from engaging in independent activities.

NewJeans and Ador React

NewJeans dropped a massive cope post on social media that you can read in this thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/s/7gqgQ7loC5

But I'll share some highlights from the statement:

we believe that this ruling did not fully take into account the fact that the members' trust in ADOR has been completely shattered.

We REALLY don't want to work for them any more, that should matter more than evidence.

ADOR and HYBE have access to all information regarding the members' entertainment activities, whereas the members must individually reach out to various parties to request information.

Hanni working the phones, desperately calling around Seoul to find witnesses.

Most importantly, the members faithfully fulfilled their contract obligations up until the point of termination and bear no fault, whereas ADOR and its parent company, HYBE, have continuously subjected them to unfair and discriminatory treatment, destroying their trust. It is only a matter of time before the truth becomes clear.

Just two more weeks guys.

Meanwhile, after much deliberation, we have decided to participate in the Complex concert scheduled for March 23 to prevent unexpected harm to fans who are looking forward to the concert and to the many people involved in its preparation.

>We respect the courts decision to ban us from engaging in activities as NJZ, but we have decided to engage in activities as NJZ.

For their part, ADOR welcomed the ruling and stated that they could perform at Complex.Con, but only as NewJeans, not NJZ.

They performed at complex-con as planned, but I can't find any info on whether the were introduced as NJZ or NewJeans. How'd the performance of their new song go you ask? Have a look:

Reddit Reacts

Redditors have mostly supported Ador throughout this drama, and they have been having a field day since the injunction has been granted. Here's a few shitty memes and threads:

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jggr78/well_aint_that_revolutionary_no_its_not_we_all/

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jg9beh/njz_newjeans_loses_court_case/

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jgje15/in_an_industry_as_cutthroat_and_fastpaced_as_kpop/

The Future

The contract validity case is scheduled to begin on April 3rd and NJZ has announced a hiatus due to the injunction. We will have to wait until then before finding out more as to what the future holds for these . Until then, I leave you with a parting gift: