No it's not about ketamine.

Introduction

In the west, Kpop is typically derided. Oftentimes this is because it is creatively bankrupt and consists of cookie cutter songs and artists. Other times it is hated for the immaturity/insanity of its western fan base (teenage girls, trannies, and neets.) Still more people hate it because of the oppressive nature of its industry. Whatever your reason, it is clear that kpop is slop. Goyslop, if you will. However, it is Goyslop of the highest order. Made to be agreeable to the largest audience possible's most base instincts. This combined with the nature of the industry (more on this later), means that it is ripe for drama; and yet I very rarely see kpop drama on this site.

Typical kpop fans

Now I don't like Kpop, but the drama potential of kpop became apparent to me a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon the news of Newjeans trying to cancel their contract. I spent 3 days gorging myself upon the news and it's associated buildup. To be frank with you, I became addicted to kpop. Not the music of course, but the drama surrounding it. I had a desire to post about Newjeans and share that delicious drama with you all; However there was a massive amount of background information to sift through and organize. I realized the full deets would require a series, and when I realized that, well, I started seeing DC in my eyes.

However, I am lazy. I don't want start a full series if it won't pay off, so I figured I would create a prototype, a pilot episode if you will. If you all enjoy this post, and I get my goombling funds, then I'll begin work on the Newjeans saga in earnest (with a few filler episodes thrown in, of course)

First off, a few warnings and disclaimers:

1. A lot of kpop groups have minors in them. I will be posting images and videos of various kpop groups throughout this series. If you see next to an image or video, that means it contains someone who is CURRENTLY a minor. You have been warned.

2. Kpop sucks from a musical standpoint, but it has ear worms. I will link to songs, concert performances, and music videos as part of this series, but I would avoid listening to the music if possible. Otherwise you'll end up like me and have Crazy by Le Sserafim stuck in your head for two weeks, a fate worse than death. Songs that I think are a big risk for this will be marked with a next to the link.

An example of these two points:

these ones are all over 18, I just wanted to provide an example

(Pictured above: 5 Korean shaman perform a sissification ritual on their unsuspecting male audience)

(The shaman's evil chant)

3. As I said earlier, I just started my research about a month ago, so I'm very likely to get things wrong. This will be compounded by the fact that the really juicy shit is found on Korean sites and forums, so I will either use Google translate, or the translation of random freaks on the internet. if I do get something wrong, don't worry, it's working as intended

Without further adieu,..

...Let us go down...

... The K-hole

The Drama

If you've made it this far and know anything about kpop, I'm sure you're wondering why I used an image of Twice. It's because they tangentially relate to this story. How? Well to understand that you need to know who/what JYP is.

Background

Jin-Young Park

JYP stands for Jin-Young Park, a South Korean singer who rose to prominence in the 1990's and parlayed his success into his own media conglomerate, which he humbly named JYP Entertainment (hereafter JYPE). JYPE is one of the 4 major companies that dominate the South Korean music industry. Their most successful artists are Twice, Itzy, and NMIXX (no not the sex cult).

For years JYPE has tried to break into the American market, with only middling success. Their most recent attempt was actually about a week and a half ago when Twice released a comeback that featured Megan THEE Stallion on the title track. One of their recent schemes has been to launch Kpop style American groups under a brand new division, JYP USA.

Strategy - Twice feat. Megan Thee Stallion

Now something you need to understand about the kpop industry is that in a weird way, it's almost like professional sports, having the following things in common.

1. Opportunities and success are largely based on God given talent. (If you're not a slim rice foid who can dance/sing/rap better than everyone else you don't have a shot.)

2. The window of opportunity is very slim, If you don't make it big by 30 you probably never will.

3. At the highest levels, there is a LOT of money at stake. (For example, the exclusive contract Newjeans is trying to get out of likely has a penalty of $200-400 million.)

For these reasons, kpop idols go through a sort of training period before they actually are put into a group and debuted. The idols essentially drop out of school and join a training program, where they learn how to sing, dance, rap, and be charming in front of a camera. Just like young athletes and their coaches trying to make it big, these schools have a very "whatever needs to be done attitude" to training, with horror stories abounding. This is considered standard practice in the industry, meaning that almost every kpop groups you see was carefully planned out years in advance.

JYP USA planned to continue this proud gook tradition with their flagship girl group VCHA, a group formed in 2023 from the winners of a web show A2K (America2Korea) on youtube, where JYP himself selected members to form an American kpop group. However, they ran into one small problem: The breakable American spirit.

The Lawsuit

Kiera Grace Madder, 17, (stage name KG Crown) was one of the lucky girls who won A2K and had her dreams come true of becoming a pop star. At least, that is what she thought before entering into the Korean style training system. In May 2024, after enduring months of abuse, KG decided she couldn't take any more, and requested out of her contract. JYP USA refused, citing. that she owed them over $500,000 for training and production costs. Seeing no other option KG filed a lawsuit on December 7th in the state of California to terminate her contract. The complaints of abuse are summarized below:

Now the interesting thing here is that none of this is illegal in South Korea, where JYPE is based. A court there ruled that idols were contractors and not employees, meaning that they were not entitled to protections granted to employees under South Korean labor laws. However, VCHA was based in California, which not only has strict labor laws, but EXTREMELY strict child labor laws, due to the history of child actor abuse in Hollywood.

The general consensus online seems to be that most of the allegations of abuse will go nowhere, but the complaints regarding working hours, denial of profits, and the $500,000 debt are likely to be decided in KG's favor due to California Labor laws.

The Reaction

/r/kpop reacts

IG post

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1h94lj7/vcha_kg_posts_an_instagram_story_update_regarding/

JYPE response

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1h9w7w1/jyp_usa_issues_statement_regarding_the_lawsuit/

/r/kpop_uncensored reacts

IG post

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1h94n0n/kgs_instagram_story_reveals_she_has_filed_a/

Summary of legal complaint from KG

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1h94z98/summary_of_document_detailing_jypes_mistreatment/

JYPE response

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1h9w3k1/statement_from_jyp_usa_on_vchas_twitter/

Random gook reaction (translated by /mu/, retrieved from desuarchive):

Twitter Reacts

Based Twice fans reacts to calls for a boycott, VCHAcels sneed

>No you HAVE to boycott!

to be clear we have been boycotting for months because jyp is a zionist and the company has continued to do collabs with zionists and are continuing to boycott now also because of the recent news with vcha and jype's mistreatment of its artists

— JYPE FILES 📌 (@jypefiles) December 9, 2024

>Kpop?

Outro

How this will all play out remains to be seen, the most likely course of action in that JYPE realizes that this whole thing is poison to any future attempts to gain a foothold in the American market and just cuts the mayofoid loose without retardedly trying to recoup its "debt".

If you enjoyed this post let me know and I will begin work on the Newjeans saga.