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Did HYBE insult GFriend to distract from trademark loss and NewJeans 'pedophile' scandal?

After losing the trademark application for GFriend, an article claims that the disbanded girl group was not profitable for HYBE

Trigger warning: mention of pedophilia

We first had HYBE’s new girl group NewJeans instantly rising to fame at the announcement of their debut. The five-member girl group will be part of HYBE’s new label ADOR which is run by SM’s former creative director Min HeeJin who is known for designing several popular comebacks of SHINee, Red Velvet and more. NewJeans even became the fourth-gen girl group to have the highest first-day pre-orders for their debut album beating aespa and Itzy. Unfortunately, HYBE is now marred with the loss of their GFriend trademark rejection and Min HeeJin’s 'pedophile' scandal.

GFriend was a leading third-gen girl group and had racked up several achievements despite coming from a small label like a million streams and album sales, over 70 music show wins and 30 awards. Their label Source Music was then acquired by BTS’ label when they rebranded as HYBE and partnered up with several other K-pop labels like Pledis. However, GFriend’s comebacks became increasingly infrequent before they disbanded in 2021. With HYBE and Source Music trying to trademark GFriend’s name, fans felt that the company was sabotaging the girl group.

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GFriend called not profitable

In fact, both Sowon and SinB had shared that they did not know GFriend would be disbanding. Had HYBE won the trademark application, the girls would not be able to reunite as GFriend if the company does not give permission. Fortunately for the girls and their fans, on July 25, the Korean Intellectual Property Office rejected Source Music’s application to trademark GFriend. With the label also trying to trademark another alternative ‘G-Friend’, fans feel there was a hidden agenda to profit off the girl group. But now a new article shares that HYBE is not interested since GFriend was “not profitable.”

Two days later, HYBE took another hit to their image as NewJeans’ creative director Min HeeJin was accused of sexualizing minors, glamorizing pedophilia and also making pedophilic comments. Fans claimed that her muse was exploited child actor Brooke Shields while she dressed a NewJeans’ member as Natalie Portman in ‘Leon’, another sexualised child actress. Fans also pointed out that her office had artwork of child models in risque positions and the album ‘Histoire de Melody Nelson’ that romanticizes a pedophilic relationship. NewJeans’ outfits consist of tube tops and minis while Red Velvet’s Yeri was given a concept similar to 'Lolita' when she was 17.

Well, hours after the accusations against Min HeeJin spread like wildfire, a new article started making the rounds where HYBE allegedly felt GFriend was not profitable. Fans think it is mediaplay to distract from the trademark loss and Min HeeJin’s scandal. The article claimed that Source Music had lost over 91 million won in 2019 and 2.3 billion won in 2020 which probably led to GFriend’s disbandment. It also claims that following Le Sserafim’s bullying scandal, it is now up to NewJeans to create a momentum that can reach the level of BTS and Seventeen.

‘Look at your attempts’

Fans were indignant as they made tweets like, “Hybe so mad about gfriend.. when they acquired somu they were like "gfriend is the most profitable brand after bts" and now that they don't have it they're like "they didn't make money anyways... 🤥" girl shut up,” and “Dont forget when hybe call gfriend as 2nd moneymaker after bts and the next few month called them "non-profit" gg. go to hell.” Another fan listed GFriend’s achievements, “Not soumu saying “gfriend is non profitable”… like they were the first non big 3 gg who got pak’s, they got millions streams, sold 1M album sales, got 71 music show wins, 30+ awards from multiple award shows, had cf offers, a lot of popular ots and collaborations…”

One fan felt it was mediaplay to distract from the trademark and Min HeeJin, “Wow, they talk sh*t about not only gfriend, lesserafim too, this for promote their new gg and after Gfriend trademark rejected and Min Heejin accusation? That's all of you bang shi hyuk.” Another fan was blunt, “You guys turned up the Gfriend buzzer to cover up the pedophilia case of Min Heejin, right? Wkwk, what happened because of losing the trademark trial wkwkwk.” One shared, “Hybe and Source Music are very predictable..that article is trying to destroy the GFRIEND brand because they failed to get the trademark for it..” Another fan wrote, “‘It was not profitable’ Look at your attempts to want to register the unprofitable group as a trademark.” 

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