LOONA’s agency issues new statement about Chuu’s firing, denies group members are suspending contracts

Blockberry Creative, the agency behind K-pop girl group LOONA, has issued a new statement about the firing of Chuu and denied reports that other members of the group are suspending their contracts.

Last Friday (November 25), the agency released a statement sharing that Chuu had been “expelled and withdrawn” as a member of LOONA. In the same statement, Blockberry Creative alleged that the singer’s “violent language and misuse of power toward our staff” had played a part in her removal from the girl group. Chuu has yet to respond to these allegations. NME has contacted Chuu for comment.

After facing backlash and skepticism from fans, Blockberry Creative said today (November 28) that it did not make its previous statement “with the goal of exposing Chuu’s misuse of power to the public and media”, as translated by Soompi.

“[The November 25 statement explains] Chuu’s changed course of action and the reason for her removal to fans and those who support LOONA, and it was not an exposé,” the agency claimed, adding that it was “natural to explain the reason for her removal”.

Blockberry Creative also responded to calls from fans and media to provide evidence supporting their claims about Chuu’s alleged behaviour, saying: “It is the rights of Chuu herself and the staff who was harmed to provide the truth or evidence of this.”

Soon after the agency made its statement, news outlet JTBC reported that nine of LOONA’s remaining 11 members – namely HeeJin, HaSeul, YeoJin, Kim Lip, JinSoul, Choerry, Yves, Gowon and Olivia Hye – have filed injunctions to suspend their contracts with Blockberry Creative. Blockberry Creative denied this, JTBC’s report said, and the agency also called the claims “groundless” in a statement to publication Sportsdongah.

In its report, JTBC noted that before Chuu’s firing was announced last week, Blockberry Creative had denied her own injunction to suspend her contract earlier this year despite her absence from most of the group’s activities in 2022.

After Chuu’s firing was announced, some industry professionals who had previously worked with the idol posted on social media supporting her or questioning the allegations made against her. These included a writer for the singer’s YouTube variety series Chuu Can Do It, and a photographer who worked with LOONA.

As archived by a fan-translation page on Twitter, the former said on her Instagram story: “Power abuse, that’s really funny. Even when it was tiring for Jiwoo [Chuu’s real name] she was someone who worried in case the staff wouldn’t get paid.”

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