On the afternoon of February 14, Korean media outlet Ten Asia published an article confirming that members of girl group NJZ (formerly NewJeans) may sign a contract with Beasts And Natives Alike (BANA) company.
According to Ten Asis, many in the industry revealed: "NewsJeans has recently assigned BANA to manage their entertainment activities."
A music critic who is knowledgeable about the industry said, "BANA is arranging interview requests with foreign media outlets regarding NewJeans members" and "BANA is working as a company representing NewJeans".
An official from a major entertainment company told Ten Asia, "I know that BANA is helping NewJeans in their activities."
205 and FRNK - two music producers from BANA - have previously collaborated with former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin to compose many hit songs for NewJeans such as "Attention", " hype Boy", "Ditto", "Cookie", "ETA", "Bubble Gum"...
This company both produces music and runs an entertainment company. The artists under the company include Krystal of the group f(x) and rapper Beenzino.
Ten Asia added that they had contacted BANA many times to confirm the incident, but Bana did not respond.
On the same afternoon, the NJZ public relations account on Instagram (NJZ PR) held by the members' parents posted a response to the above information.
They only named reporter Lee Min Kyung of Ten Asia media outlet and confirmed that the reporter's article was "false".
NJZ has not had any negotiations or signed any contracts with BANA. Although the article originates from " statements from people in the industry", this is all fabricated information.
It seems that the journalist intentionally created controversy when publishing the article without confirming the truth to the parties involved or BANA - NJZ's representative account criticized Ten Asia.
NJZ announced that it would file a complaint with the Press Arbitration Committee and take strong legal action against Ten Asia for spreading false information.
The NJZ account added: In the past, Ten Asia has posted baseless information many times, presenting it as if it were verified fact, leading to many articles with false citations, causing serious mental damage to artists and others involved.
Previously, the NJZ PR account denied rumors about Hanni's visa issues, after there were articles saying that the female idol refused to sign documents prepared by ADOR Company (under HYBE Group) to extend the visa.
NJZ PR stated, Hanni was officially granted a new visa on February 11 through valid procedures.
In addition, NJZ accused ADOR of pressuring Hanni and her parents, by taking advantage of the visa issue to ask Hanni to sign an agreement to recognize ADOR as the management company.
Meanwhile, 5 NJZ members (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein) revealed that after announcing the group name change, their new song will be released on March 23, at the ComplexCon concert event in Hong Kong (China).
