It’s been over a year since NewJeans’ messy attempt to escape their contract with ADOR. There’s been plenty of twists and turns with the latest update being Haerin and Hyein’s decision to return to ADOR. Minji, Hanni and Danielle released a joint statement proclaiming “their intention” to return, but nothing has been officially confirmed yet.
A lot of HYBE employees, their groups LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT suffered through a lot of hate because of this mess. While HYBE fans have blamed NewJeans as a whole for all the trouble their favs experienced for the past 18 months, not enough attention has been paid to how Hanni has behaved through all of this.
Every move of Hanni’s has only escalated the situation while creating discord among HYBE stans.
The “Ignore her” Fiasco
Hanni is THE ONLY NewJeans member to directly target ILLIT with that greeting fiasco. And she did it in a nasty way by going after their manager. She accused the manager of telling ILLIT to “ignore her” after she greeted the group. She twisted the whole thing into an example of workplace bullying.
She even attended the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee audit last October as a witness to discuss the issue. It’s telling that despite mistreatment being at the center of NewJeans’ case, NONE of the other members attended. She literally tried to convince an entire country to change their laws because of how she felt.
However, during the injunction hearing between ADOR and their former CEO Min Hee-Jin (MHJ), the incident didn’t go down the way Hanni claimed. ADOR released text messages between Hanni and MHJ revealed that Min was the one who tried to paint the greeting as something negative. And what was Hanni’s initial response? “Rather than feeling bad, to be honest, it was kind of funny.”
This was referenced by the judge who ruled that NewJeans’ contracts are valid. The judge also reiterated that Min Hee-Jin was the one who brought up the idea that Hanni was ignored.
When she was confronted with the inconsistencies in her story, Hanni posted on social media that “I remember everything clearly. I wanted to say it in court earlier, but I held back.”
What makes it worse is that when NewJeans left the courthouse after the messages were revealed, Hanni was seen laughing.
While NewJeans tried to frame their battle with ADOR as a fight for better working conditions, Hanni’s behavior would serve to discredit that message.
Making Herself the Center
Almost every interview NewJeans did discussing their case, Hanni would try to make it about herself. How SHE was the one suffering. That SHE didn’t understand why everything was happening to HER.
She inserts herself into everything, whenever she can. When NewJeans did an interview with the BBC, again Hanni brought up HER struggles. She didn’t give a fuck about how the situation was affecting the other members. Hell, she didn’t even care how it was affecting MHJ.
When NewJeans was a guest on CBS Radio’s Kim Hyun Jung’s News Show on Christmas 2024, HANNI was the one to sing a self-composed song. Just her. She would steer the conversation into how the whole mess was negatively impacting HER! Even when she did mention the rest of her group, HER pain was still front and center.
ADOR’s Balancing Act
Now everyone is waiting to see whether ADOR can reach an agreement with the remaining members. I’m not sure what to make of Danielle and Minji. Haerin and Hyein seem to be more willing to play by ADOR’s rules. As long as they’re willing to stay far away from Min Hee-Jin (who’s a competitor now that she has launched her own agency). NewJeans can’t have any form of communication with her about their careers, schedules, music etc. That’s sharing trade secrets and ADOR’s lawyers will not care about their intentions. ADOR needs to have all five members sign a written agreement forbidding them from having anything to do with MHJ.
Since ADOR took Haerin and Hyein back, those two will be alright. It’s possible that they genuinely feeI bad about their roles in this whole fiasco and want to make amends. I do not get that vibe from Hanni. The minute things don’t go her way, she’s going to hint that ADOR isn’t treating her or the girls right. She will turn Bunnies/Tokkis into her weapon. That’s the last thing the rest of NewJeans, ADOR or their fandom needs.
What Should ADOR Do With Hanni?
I’d say about 40% of NewJeans’ problems stem from Hanni’s inability to keep her mouth shut. She is basically a mini Hee-Jin at this point. She is no better, no different from MHJ which is probably why Hanni feels an attachment to her.
Her spoiled attitude and poor reputation will get in the way of NewJeans being able to salvage their careers.
So what should ADOR do about Hanni? Personally, if ADOR was smart, they would do what SM Entertainment did with Lucas (ex-NCT & WayV member).
In 2021, Lucas was accused of taking advantage of his female fans by datingthem for their money, along with beinga shitty boyfriend. After putting him on a three-year hiatus, SM announced that Lucas left his groups and would be a solo artist from now on.
That’s what ADOR/HYBE needs to do. Kick her out of NewJeans but keep her as a soloist.
That way ADOR can focus on rehabilitating NewJeans’ image without worrying about Hanni. They can keep her away from their other artists. This will make it easier for NewJeans to re-integrate into the company and make amends. Actually, having Hanni debut as a solo artist could actually prevent her from causing more trouble. It will at the very least make it harder for her to pull the mistreatment card again. Plus, she’d finally have the spotlight all to herself.
