ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Entertainment devider Celebrities devider 'Very scared': EXO's Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen move to terminate contracts with SM Entertainment

'Very scared': EXO's Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen move to terminate contracts with SM Entertainment

Published Jun 1, 2023 02:25 am
K-pop boy band EXO’s Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin, also known as the subunit EXO-CBX, have moved to terminate their exclusive contracts with their agency, SM Entertainment.  On June 1, lawyer Lee Jae-hak of the law firm Lin, sent an official statement to Korean media about the legal move of the three K-pop stars.  EXO's Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin (Twitter)
It was reported that SM Entertainment allegedly refused to provide copies of proof of payment to the three artists despite that Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen have sent requests seven times to the company since March 21.  "Requesting an accurate and transparent settlement basis for settlements that have not been understood so far is the legitimate right of artists, and SM is also obliged to comply in accordance with the exclusive contract and the Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act," according to the law firm.  The lawyer also said the the long-term contracts signed by SM with its artists for more than 10 years are unfair.  "SM has signed long-term contracts with artists that have traditionally lasted over 12 to 13 years, and then, as this period was not enough, they had them sign the follow-up exclusive contracts again, resulting in long-term contracts of at least 17 or 18 years. They are repeatedly committing extremely unfair tyranny, such as insisting on a period of time,” Lee Jae-hak said.  He added, "If you include the period of being trainees, artists feel that SM is forcing artists to sign so-called slave contracts based on their superior position for a period of about 20 years.”  About the payment, the lawyer said, "The fact that SM is not providing these settlement data and settlement grounds is strong proof that SM did not pay the settlement properly, and the artists will take all civil and criminal legal measures, including a lawsuit against SM to check the exact settlement details.”  "Such a long-term exclusive contract is not only for Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen, but also for most artists under SM. We are seriously considering filing a complaint against the committee,” the lawyer said.  Baekhyun, Xiumin and Chen commented on their move to terminate their exclusive contracts, saying they are very scared.  "It is very difficult to take legal action against SM, a large company, but we started with the courage and mind to replace the various doubts that many SM artists have,” they said.  They added, "We are sorry for causing great concern to the fans with this incident. Although we are inevitably pursuing legal action due to the difference in our position with SM, we will do our best to resolve the dispute by finding a wise way so that fans do not have to worry too much.” “Those of us who want to speak out in a small voice about the injustice that we have not been able to talk about before are actually very scared and scared at this moment. Please pay attention to our words and strong courage," they added. 

Related Tags

EXO-CBX
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.