In an exclusive interview on September 26 on JoongAng Ilbo, former CEO Min Hee Jin of ADOR Company (managing group NewJeans) accused HYBE Group of spreading slanderous documents about her to foreign media.
Accordingly, Min Hee Jin said: "I received a call from Jeff Benjamin - a journalist from Billboard. He said that HYBE's overseas media company - TAG (The Agency Group PR) sent him a document full of slander about me. Because the content was too one-sided and strange, he wanted to verify the truth from me.
On the surface, they advertised that they had offered me a five-year contract as a producer, but behind my back they spread defamatory material to international media. Who could trust such a company?”
On the same day, HYBE spoke out to refute: "Min Hee Jin's statement is false. The foreign media company has never released any documents about former CEO Min Hee Jin and if it makes such a statement, it is a lie.
Journalist Jeff Benjamin also responded that he never told Min Hee Jin that he had received defamatory material.
But on the afternoon of September 26, Jeff Benjamin posted an article on X along with a screenshot of a text message with Min Hee Jin, indirectly confirming that HYBE had sent the document to Billboard.
“I was surprised to see my name mentioned in recent articles and statements. My role was simply to gather information from all sides, which I am doing,” the journalist said.
Anyone adding emotion to my standard fact-checking process is adding their own emotions or personal biases.
To be transparent and avoid any issues as I do not want to be directly involved in this story, I will release the following screenshots of my exchanges with both parties.”
Jeff Benjamin's move caused HYBE to be criticized by NewJeans fans and Min Hee Jin supporters for lying and distorting the truth.
However, some people also pointed out that HYBE only denied sending defamatory documents about Min Hee Jin to foreign media, but did not deny contacting Jeff Benjamin.
In a text message to Min Hee Jin, Jeff said, “Billboard has received new statements from HYBE. I feel it is important to hear directly from you regarding these new statements, if you are able to speak to me or make your own statements.”
Under the post, Jeff added: “The issue here is not that anyone lied. I appreciate people sharing explanations but I want to clarify that I was just doing my job as a journalist tasked with investigating a story. That’s it.”
However, the content of the document HYBE sent to this journalist was not revealed, so the audience continued to debate whether Min Hee Jin or HYBE was really the liar.
