It's no secret that on November 25, 2022, netizens received a shocking statement from BlockBerry Creative announcing the removal of Chuu from LOONA. The statement alleges that Chuu was removed from the group due to her "violent language and misuse of power" toward staff members. Outrage poured in from the likes of fans as well as those who have worked closely with Chuu in the past in their honest disbelief for the allegations. 

The former 12-member group, LOONA is loved by many. When the announcement of Chuu’s removal was made, uproar spread throughout all of social media. For days, it seemed like the only thing anyone was talking about was the utter shock of the reason behind Chuu’s removal. However, the surprises did not end there. In an article by JBTC, it was reported that nine of the remaining 11 members filed for injunctions to terminate their contacts with BlockBerry Creative. Heejin, Haseul, Yeojin, Kim Lip, Jinsol, Choerry, Eve, Gowon, and Olivia Hye have collectively decided that their current contract was being infringed upon due to the nature of the situation: “It has been confirmed that the nine members made this decision after judging that the relationship of mutual trust, which is the premise of the contract, has collapsed and it has reached the point where it is difficult to expect management work and entertainment activities based on cooperation.” 

The remaining two members, Vivi and Hyunjin, have not expressed any future plans to terminate their contracts.

So what will happen to our beloved girl group? One thing is for sure: no one is believing the allegations made about Chuu, especially after she finally broke her silence and addressed her fans through her Instagram story (Translation courtesy of Soompi):

“Hello, this is Chuu.

Thank you so much for your concern and comfort.

As I have not received any contact regarding this series of situations or know anything about them, I’m currently grasping the situation, but what I’m sure of is that I haven’t done anything that would be shameful to my fans. In the future, as my position is decided, I will share another statement. Thank you so much for your concern and for trusting in me.”

It seems as if at this point, should the group choose to move forward with their contracts with BlockBerry Creative, the environment may not be a good one considering they already requested to prematurely end their contracts.

The possibilities with K-Pop are interesting. Groups like The Rose have shown first hand how hard it is to wrestle with a powerful entity such as a company with rights to their music. Is it hard? Yes, but not impossible. After years of trial and error, the band was able to move forward by cutting ties and starting over under their own self-started company, WINDFALL. It is possible that the filings for injunction may not be enough to end their contracts, which would mean the group would have to continue until the end of their pre-agreed time. Should they be able to come to an agreement to terminate their contracts, the nine girls would be able to choose their paths from there on, be it solo careers, trying to form a different version of the LOONA that we already know, or completely leave music all together. All we can do is be supportive of the lovely ladies going through such a hard time.

Edited by Rashelle B.