Industry insiders react to HYBE's news release about Danielle

 [cafe daum] Industry insiders react to HYBE's news release about Danielle's departure

date: 29/12/2025

After winning the lawsuit on October 30 that sought confirmation of the validity of the exclusive contracts with the NewJeans members, HYBE stated that it had promised to resume the members’ activities and had completed preparations for their activities, including the release of a full-length NewJeans album.

However, even after two months, there has been no announcement of any future activity plans. In the industry, rumours are circulating that negotiations between HYBE and three of the members have been dragging on without progress.

According to media reports, HYBE appears to have set different courses of action for Hanni, Minji, and Danielle.

These are being described as either “selective contract termination” or “contract termination accompanied by massive lawsuits” as punitive measures.

HYBE is reportedly planning to unilaterally terminate Danielle’s contract and demand an enormous amount in damages.

Industry insiders who heard the news of Danielle’s removal:

“After promising fans the return of all five members, they’re just abandoning Danielle alone? If all the girls are under the same contract conditions, there has to be a clear standard for who gets kept and who gets discarded but it’s impossible to tell whether that standard is ‘the law’ or just ‘their mood.’

“If a major corporation singles out a young artist and says, ‘You alone are having your contract terminated’ and ‘You alone will be hit with massive damages,’ anyone would see that as punishment. To fans, it would clearly come across as a textbook case of abuse of power.”

“With Danielle being pushed out, the remaining members may not feel like they’re ‘choosing to stay’, they could feel more like hostages left behind, forced to watch a teammate being dragged to the slaughterhouse.”

“It seems HYBE calculated that, rather than bearing the risk of all five members uniting and speaking with one voice, it would be better to forcibly divide their interests and weaken their cohesion.”

“By presenting the extreme measures of both comeback and expulsion, the carrot and the stick, at the same time, the effect is to silently pressure the remaining members with the message, ‘If you don’t comply, you could be next.’

“Using a specific member as an example and pushing them into a legal battle only demonstrates the arrogance of a major corporation that treats K-pop artists not as human beings, but as expendable business assets.”

“The ‘divide and rule’ strategy of bringing back Hanni and Minji while punishing Danielle is focused solely on dismantling the NewJeans community and achieving the management goal of what’s being called ‘erasing Min Hee-jin.’

“It’s close to a hostage situation, using the artists’ livelihoods as leverage. The strategy seems intended to force silence from the remaining members and to imprint an image of a messy legal battle on the public.”

Some reactions from the legal community:

“If HYBE cites tampering as the reason for terminating Danielle’s exclusive contract, they may try to use it strategically in the lawsuit with former CEO Min,” noting, “In a shareholder contract dispute where HYBE has little evidence beyond KakaoTalk messages, they could view the tampering claim as their trump card.”

“HYBE’s selective treatment is likely to be adopted by the court as crucial evidence showing HYBE’s ‘lack of intent to restore trust’ when determining responsibility for the breakdown of the trust relationship.”

https://naver.me/5UTc4sws

original source

COMMENTS

• I don't really see how HYBE's current actions are any different from the Japanese colonial era when they cut off people's testicles and hung them up for display.

• If you look at people as people, how could you do that to Danielle? It breaks my heart.

• I honestly felt like my heart was so heavy all day that I could barely breathe. If this isn’t misogyny, then what is it? Putting everything else aside, how can a person even act like that? It’s seriously suffocating. And on top of that, whether it’s the comment section or a “Korean man's comment,” those fuckers pretending to be logical and rational, chanting like a mantra that “HYBE is a saint” and “ADOR is a saint”—I seriously want to kill them, fuck. Even as just a regular person who likes NewJeans’ music, my heart hurts this much, actual fans must be under insane stress.

• If they do that, the remaining kids won't be able to do their activities comfortably. It's going to be crazy and it'll be so painful.

• Not all corporations are like that. Do people seriously think big companies like Samsung or LG are idiots? Of course they obsess over protecting their image every time an article comes out. In the first place, think about why HYBE is getting criticized. Anyone can see that, on a basic human level, this isn’t about consideration or goodwill at all, it looks like they’re deliberately trying to grind a person down. That’s why public opinion is hostile toward HYBE.

• Do you know that if HYBE comes out like this, the image of all products belonging to HYBE will fall?

• This is the first time I've seen this kind of trash. By the way, I'm not even interested in idol culture, but this is so absurd.

• I hope Bang Si-hyuk gets a life sentence.

• Those pieces of shit... Danielle I'm cheering for you

• So fucking evil

• Do they plan on promoting the remaining 2 members? How are you going to promote them? The other member is in a lawsuit worth 100 billion won, so you're just telling them to go bankrupt. How can you expect fans to stick with them? They're really gangsters. This is why HYBE is getting cursed at.

• If Danielle really had a double contract, HYBE would have already been in an uproar with articles and media play, just like Min Hee-jin's national wealth fund.

• It’s seriously fucking too much. I feel awful for the girls who are still left too. They acted like they’d welcome them back anytime, but this is so freaking sinister. No matter how much money an idol makes, this is still unbelievable. Forcing them out and then slapping them with a 100-billion-won lawsuit? That’s pure evil seriously.

• How can something like a briquette volunteer and marathon running be considered independent activity?

• If one person falls like that, how can the other four continue to smile brightly and act as if nothing happened? It's so sad.

• That's why you didn't want to go back Danielle... cheer up.

• This is the first time I've ever felt this disgusted by a large corporation that has nothing to do with me and that I don't even know much about.

• Every word is true and the current situation is so horrible.. It feels like an execution. Please stop it.. There is no way to help and I have to just watch this.. I'm not even a fan of NewJeans, but this is so painful.

• This piece of shit company should go bankrupt, please, that's my new year's wish

• Do they really want to do that to a child at their age?

• I’m never consuming anything on that company again. And I’m supporting all of NewJeans.

• Wow, I feel so uncomfortable....ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Are you trying to make the whole country into Danielle fans? This is so extreme.

• It feels like a punishment to the other members. If you don't listen to me, this is what happens.

• I felt really off all day today. I was already tired of the NewJeans situation and trying not to look at it anymore, but then I saw photos of her doing volunteer work today and wow… it made me feel really sad. They’re genuinely such kind people, yet both here and in male-dominated spaces people are just waiting for them to fail. The world is so fucking cruel.

• It seems like they'll keep dragging out the lawsuit and not let NewJeans make a comeback.

• This is really too much for a large corporation to treat an individual like this. This is crossing the line.