Singer and KOZ Entertainment CEO Zico has stated that he "has no knowledge of accessing" the document disparaging other agency idols written at HYBE.
On the 30th, Zico opened his Instagram saying, "What is going on?" and "After seeing the news article published today, I thought it would be better to speak directly, so I am leaving this message." He added, "I have never seen the document in question, nor have I ever opened the email itself," and "I only found out today that I was added as a recipient."
He continued, "I was worried that such a simple explanation might cause more misunderstandings, so before stating my position, I directly requested KOZ to confirm that there is no record of me opening either the email or the document."
Earlier that day, a media outlet reported that Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE, instructed in January 2022 during the internal report sharing process to "add Zico to the document sharing recipients." Zico is the head of KOZ Entertainment, a label under HYBE, as well as an affiliated artist. KOZ Entertainment, established in 2018, was acquired by HYBE in November 2020.
The controversial document contained harsh evaluations of the appearances of members from other K-pop idol groups. The document included comments such as "They debuted a bunch of members at the age when they looked the worst," "The plastic surgery was too extreme," "Thinking back to when OO debuted and everyone was shocked by their looks, it seems OO Entertainment's aesthetic sense has changed," and "If someone is called ugly, they respond with old photos of OO, and if someone is said to be a bad dancer, they show what OO can do," targeting other agencies and idols. This document was reportedly issued weekly and sent to the C-level executives of HYBE and its subsidiaries.
In response to the controversy, HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang apologized on the 29th, stating, "The document was created as part of a process to retrospectively collect various reactions and public opinions on industry trends and issues," and "It was shared only with some leadership members for the purpose of understanding market and artist fan sentiment, but the content of the document was highly inappropriate."
He added, "We acknowledge all wrongdoing on behalf of the company regarding the inclusion of provocative and harsh expressions toward K-pop artists, the addition of the author's personal views and evaluations, and the fact that such content was documented. We sincerely and officially apologize to the external artists who were mentioned in the document and suffered harm and hurt."
He also emphasized, "We recognize the lack of awareness among the leadership who received the document, and as CEO, I immediately halted the creation of such monitoring documents. We promise to establish guidelines and strengthen internal controls to ensure that such issues do not occur again."
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