OmegaX and the boys won the first phase of their legal battle! As of 11 January 2023, the South Korean court handling the case against their talent management, Spire Entertainment freed the boys from the contract.
The announcement was made via the K-pop boyband’s Instagram page yesterday (January 11). “Today, we won the lawsuit we filed against our agency to suspend the validity of our exclusive contract,” their post read, as translated by Soompi. “We were able to achieve this thanks to all of you giving us the courage and reaching out a hand.”
OMEGA X say they’ve won lawsuit against SPIRE Entertainment to suspend their contracts, article @nme
On November 16, 2022, the members of Omega X held a press conference, together with their lawyers. Jaehan, Junghoon, Sebin, Jaehyun, Kevin, Hwichan, Taedong, Hyuk, XEN, Hangyeom, and Yechan appear together in a show of solidarity.
Updates: Legal Action versus Spire Entertainment
The group’s leader, Jaehan initiated the conference with a strong statement:
The reason why we couldn’t help but to endure and keep quiet about all of this until now was that we were afraid that our last chance [to succeed as artists] would disappear if we didn’t. For the sake of our fans who trusted us, supported us, and waited for us, we had to endure. As the eldest member and the leader [of OMEGA X], seeing the members struggling and getting exhausted, I was afraid and worried that our dreams would collapse. I wanted to protect OMEGA X.”
OMEGAX leader jaehan in their press conference
Omega X and their lawyers will carry out a lawsuit to terminate the contract with Spire Entertainment. They will also pursue criminal charges and request compensation. Issues of intimidation, charges of assault, indecent acts by compulsion, and attempted threats will also be filed.
The group also registered their group name “OMEGA X” and their fandom name “FOR X” for trademarks.
Timeline
On November 8, 2022, the female CEO of Spire Entertainment resigned and Omega X members had their own Instagram accounts, without the control of their management. Hopefully, the BL series A Shoulder to Cry On will be released sooner than later
On October 25, 2022, the members of Omega X, a Korean boyband returned to South Korea after their Los Angeles concert (Connect: Don’t Give Up tour). A few days before that, the Korean channel SBS released a video related to the allegations that the female CEO of the boys physically and verbally abused the members of Omega X under her care.
Reports of mismanagement (re: South and North American concerts) surfaced early on, even before the alleged abuse by the female CEO. Here’s the timeline leading to the allegations. The female CEO (Kang Seong Hee) still denies all the allegations of abuse, assault, and neglect as of this reporting.
Seong Hee is now under fire due to the alleged abuse of Omega X member Jaehan.
The company managing Omega X is called Spire Entertainment. On LinkedIn, the company is represented by Peter Hwang, who posted updates on Omega X concert.
After the last leg of the boys’ concert in Los Angeles, it was reported that their flight back to South Korea was canceled. Thus the boys have to call their families to get tickets. At the airport, reports from various media outlets indicate that the boys were haggard but safe.
Omega X Concert Details
According to Spire Entertainment:
The group Omega X wrapped up its performance in South America after its world tour in Chile.
Omega X held a South American performance of the 2022 world tour “Connect: Don’t Give Up” from September 16 to 29. Omega X, which showed a variety of events from the stage of its first full-length album “Doodling: Story Written in Music,” sold out all performances in Mexico City and Colombia.
Starting with New York on October 3, Omega X will continue its world tour fever in Atlanta on October 3, Orlando on the 7th, Louisville on the 9th, Chicago on the 10th, Denver on the 12th, Lawrence on the 14th, Dallas on the 15th, San Antonio on the 16th, Phoenix on the 18th, and Los Angeles on the 22nd.
Activity posted at LinkedIn by Peter Hwang representing Spire Entertainment
Peter Hwang boasts of being skilled in the management of entertainers, yet he is only managing one boyband. His LinkedIn profile only shows the posting of Omega X concert events. Reports also indicate that he and the female CEO are in a relationship. Instagram photos of the couple show photos of them together. These posts on Instagram are also unavailable now.
Jaehan is the target of physical and verbal abuse
The center of attention is Kim Jaehan (27), who was shown to be the target of physical and verbal abuse from the female CEO. Jaehan is also one of the leads in the upcoming A Shoulder to Cry On, a Boys Love series, together with band member Shin Ye Chan (21).
Jaehan used to belong to Spectrum (under Wynn Entertainment), while Ye Chan performs for 1THE9, a boyband.
A Shoulder to Cry On, a BL series featuring two boyband members were supposed to be released in September 2022, but until now there are no release date. Given that they held a concert in the US may be the reason for the delays.
Evidence of Abuse
Twitter source, with plenty of links to other sources.
Naver entertainment portal shows photos (from SBS) showing the boys and fans crying over the incident as they went to the airport to welcome Omega X members.
Omega X Concert
Reports emerging from people involved in the American side of the concert tour show that most of the technical crew were impressed with the boyband.
CEO Seong Hee boasts of being responsible for the success of the US concert. However, the cancellation of some of the tour venues was not properly communicated to fans, thus confusion ensued after.
Here’s their Vamos music video:
References
Alleged Physical and Verbal abuse suffered by Omega X member Jaehan | AllKPop report
Spire Entertainment CEO social activity | KoreaBoo report
Omega X members return from LA after the concert and alleged abuse | Naver news report
An old-timer BL fan way back in 2007. I started out loving BL after watching the Takumi-kun series from Japan, went on collecting BL manga, and watched old BL anime such as Junjou Romantica and the likes. Love of Siam allow me to transition into Thai, while Amphetamine gave me glimpses of Taiwanese BL magic. I love to write reviews and I’m one of the administrators of Psycho Weird.
1 Comment
1 Pingback