Why didn't Fifty Fifty stay active? CBX did after filing and even during their CEO's "external forces" mediaplay.

Let's take JHJ in his own words to find inconsistencies and maybe get a hint at an answer. Skip the opinions if you want, I tend to speculate.

Dispatch

[단독] "안성일 저작권 지분은 95%"…피프티 피프티, 외부세력의 실체

"바비는 하는 게 무조건 좋으니깐…" 6월 9일. 안성일 PD가 영화 '바비' 뮤직비디오 출연을 재촉했다. 전홍준 대표는 신중론을 유지했다. "본인과 팀과 회사 모두에게 좋은 일인 건 맞는데…" 전 대표가 고민하는

entertain.naver.com

On May 2, Aran underwent a surgery. On that day, Employee “B” sent a message to Jeon Hong Joon.

B: CEO, they said Aran’s surgery will go well and she will be moved to a hospital room to recover. The surgery is currently going well, but I will continue to monitor as they said we have to watch her condition.

B: I’m going to give the other members a break while Aran recovers, is that okay? May 10 to May 28. The other members would need to return to the dorms by May 28.

Initially, Jeon Hong Joon countered by only giving them a week off, and employee “B” responded.

Jeon Hong Joon: That’s too long. What will you do if there’s an accident? Give them a week off and then have them come back to the dorms. I’m concerned about an accident regarding their safety. Give them a week. After they go back to the dorms, give them more personal improvement time.

B: Ok. I was worried about the same thing, but there were requests from both the members and their parents. Also, Aran needs to rest for at least two weeks but she complained to Ahn Sung Il that she would only get one week of rest, out of worry.

In the end, Jeon Hong Joon told employee “B” to have them rest until May 25, giving them just over two weeks instead of one week.

Opinion: At this point in time, the girls likely haven't sent JHJ proof of contents citing their complaints about financial transparency & health concerns, etc. Note that after this point JHJ will be more mindful to appear concerned about their health, which he's clearly not if he only grudgingly gave Aran the two weeks after major surgery.

On June 9, Ahn Sung Il and Jeon Hong Joon had a conversation regarding FIFTY FIFTY’s involvement with the Barbie movie.

Ahn Sung Il: It will definitely be good to do the Barbie movie. I’ll meet with them first to try to persuade them and I will communicate with Aran.

Jeon Hong Joon: It’s good for you, the group, and the company, but since it’s also a matter of dealing with a health issue, communicate well with both the parents and the members so that there are no misunderstandings~!!

Jeon Hong Joon: With such a good showing its frustrating that they cannot do anything these days~!

Ahn Sung Il: Ok. Aran listens well to my opinions anyway so I’ll check her condition first.

Ahn Sung Il: I’ll go to personally see her mother.'

Opinion: Note the concern for health expressed as he's becoming more careful about digital footprint, which actually helps him in this case. But clearly he's excited to proceed with Barbie and the two men are in agreement.

"Barbie" OST music video filming was canceled

[단독] 피프티 피프티, ‘바비’ OST 뮤비 촬영 무산..대형 CF도

그룹 피프티 피프티의 할리우드 영화 ‘바비’ OST 뮤직비디오 촬영이 결국 무산됐다. 소속사 어트랙트와 불화 여파다. 4일 업계 관계자들에 따르면 피프티 피프티는 ‘바비’ OST 중 하나인 ‘바비 드림즈’의 가창을 맡은 데 이어 뮤직비디오 촬영도 진행할 예정이었으나 어트랙트와 불화가…

v.daum.net

"...ahead of the filming [for Barbie MV], the members of Fifty Fifty sent Attrakt a proof of contents regarding the termination of the exclusive contract. In response, Attrakt CEO Jeon Hong-Joon suggested that they postpone the schedule by saying that we should shoot the music video after the problems between the members and the company were sorted out. Then, according to Attrakt, CEO Ahn Sung-il said that if he couldn't proceed with filming the music video, he would quit the Fifty Fifty job."

Opinion: In his own words, JHJ was responsible for cancelling Fifty Fifty's activities as the team was ready to go at this point. CBX stayed active after filing their lawsuit and even during their CEO's "external forces" mediaplay. JHJ made the drastic move to stop all activities. Why? It must have become clearer at this point the girls might actually file (they did on 6/19) and he needed to prevent the lawsuit from happening above all else including inflicting irrevocable harm to his own group and ultimately his own interests as well. And it was only after the lawsuit was filed did the girls finally get access to financial records. What is in, or not in, those records that he's so afraid of that a lawsuit might be able to reveal?

Fifty Fifty’s company gives response to ‘Barbie’ MV being cancelled

Fifty Fifty’s company gives response to ‘Barbie’ MV being cancelled

K-pop group Fifty Fifty’s agency ATTRAKT has released a statement responding to rumours of the cancellation of their music video for the Barbie movie…

www.thenews.com.pk

“It’s true that at present, we have been unable to film a music video for the ‘Barbie’ OST. Member Aran was sick and had to undergo surgery, and she needed about two months to recover, so we were unable to schedule a shoot for the music video. But then the current situation happened, so it became difficult [for us to film a music video].”

Opinion: It's clear he's blatantly lying now. Aran was ready to go and the current situation including SIAHN's departure didn't "happen" to JHJ. JHJ was the immediate cause. But this portrayal paints the picture of JHJ as the helpless victim. Barbie MV and all subsequent activities had no chance of ever happening. But I'd bet financial loss or even the loss of the group are the least of JHJ's worries.

Blossomin, you make an interesting point that I can see the logic in. Let's say there're two versions of JHJ:

A) JHJ who is confident in winning the lawsuit because he's done no wrong and has nothing to hide

B) JHJ who is resigned to to fact that he'll lose the lawsuit because wrongdoings will be revealed

I'd have to assume B in order to agree with you. If JHJ was anywhere close to A, the opportunities were worth the gamble. Not taking them is almost career ending.

Assuming B then, what I would do is have the girls go shoot the commercials with the footballer and the big electronics company for some fast cash that would go into my Star Entertainment account. The girls wouldn't see any of that money anyways. I'd then buy myself a nicer watch than the one I sold to flash in front of SIAHN in court. I'd lose, but I'd go out in style.

And I'm not sure if Warner was flying the girls in for the MV, but yeah, I'd probably pass on that if I wasn't planning on winning in court too.

Link to article and KakaoTalk messages here

(The Givers' full stmt is included all the way at the bottom)

So we now have evidence to suggest that JHJ is indeed responsible for the stopping the girls' activities including filming Barbie Dreams which had been obvious if you didn't skip episodes. JHJ has again been shown to indulge in liberal use of the PR tactic of deflecting blame and accusing others for his own actions:

Telling SIAHN to lie to Warner about cancellation --> blame it on the covid, Aran's surgery, parents' objections

Lying to a Warner director about the cancellation --> blame it on SIAHN acting without his approval

What's next, accusing the SIAHN of embezzling company money? Oh wait, he already did that...

JHJ's lawyer probably advised him what discovery would uncover about his "financial activities" if they were to go to court. I think it was at this moment that the gravity of the situation hit him and it was serious enough to make it worth risking everything to get the suit dropped.

Now here's the crazy part where you have to read between the lines to get. So the CEO initially didn't tell SIANH about being notified about the lawsuit. He needed leverage on the girls first, so he played like everything was fine and that he still wanted to do the shoot and set-up SIAHN to get the girls onboard. Now that both the girls and SIAHN would have something to lose, he ordered a stop to shooting the very next day and dangled the possibility of resumption if the girls would drop the suit:

JHJ: About the Barbie OST project. Say that it’s Aran’s wishes…that we can’t do it…and she’ll return on July 14.

JHJ: I think the only way we can both survive is if we quickly come to an agreement with the girls.

JHJ: If things get out… We can’t undo things then. We’ll only be left with scars.

Remember SIAHN had long already ended his contract with Attrakt, so he had no obligation to be involved and, by his own account, wouldn't have gotten involved had he known JHJ was notified of the injunction and that it would be a risky and unstable time to work with JHJ. Not sure he was expecting to be setup though.

More importantly, this brings into question JHJ's narrative that SIAHN was behind the girls' lawsuit.

The elephant in the room and the question that no media outlet has brought up remains. Why didn't he just be transparent with the girls from the jump instead of letting it come to a lawsuit? And even after they filed, why not just handle it privately in court? Simply prove they could legally account for the 6B alledgedly spent, and prove that income can be settled legally at (and no hanky-panky is going on at) an opaque entity outside of Attrakt's claim/control)? Why is it so important to use all means necessary - public pressure, questionable side suits, and statements and threats from ppl and orgs he's connected with in the industry to get the girls to drop the suit?

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Text of The Givers' full statement:

Another eerily similar case is that of Yoon Mi Rae, which JHJ was involved in but as a PR director with World Music Entertainment (remember how he was caught trying to rewrite history and paint himself as a legendary manager in the S#arp scandal?). The case had all the hallmarks of the "JHJ playbook" and it was reported that he had a hand in what led to a four year gap in her career:

"Basically what happend was WME went broke and couldn’t support Yoon Mi Rae’s activities, so she filed suit to terminate her contract as they broke multiple agreements in it. She didn’t go public with this at the time as she wanted to handle things quietly, but WME responded to this by filing a lawsuit of their own against her about a month later and went to the press pretending they filed first and did so because them being broke was all because of her drug case (acquitted years prior). So basically just pandering to the public by citing evil drugs, using stereotypes about rappers, and just straight-up anti-blackness, and the Korean press at the time (Yonhap News, specifically) bought into their narrative without much research (which she called out in the statement). Yoon Mi Rae also mentions the treatment she endured under the company when she was a minor, that they were trying to sell her off to creditors to cover debt, and that they held the past drug allegations over her head to get her to sign a ridiculously unfavorable contract."

And the reason WME went broke? They failed to repay more than 719M of 1B advanced distribution payment from SM and ended up giving them all rights to artists' albums in 2005. Could Attrakt be going after copyright so aggressively in preparation for another JHJ paper company bankruptcy settlement with Interpark?

Anyways, this isn't JHJ's first rodeo.