2024-11-08 ADOR vs Director Shin Wooseok Newsen Coverage

Korean Original: “사과만 하면 끝날 일을” 돌고래유괴단 신우석, 결국 어도어 경영진 고소 

English Translation (@juantokki): https://x.com/juantokki/status/1854728003659743303/

"A Simple Apology Could Have Ended This": Dolphiners' Director Shin Woo-seok Sues ADOR Executives

By Newsen’s Hwang Hye-jin

Director Shin Woo-seok of the content production company Dolphiners Films has filed a lawsuit against executives from HYBE's sub-label, ADOR (the agency behind the group NewJeans).

On November 4, Shin submitted a complaint to the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul against ADOR CEO Kim Joo-young and Vice CEO Lee Do-kyung, alleging defamation of character.

Shin directed the music videos for NewJeans' hit songs "Ditto" and "ETA." Building on this work, he launched the Ban Heesoo channel on December 12, 2022, to share content with NewJeans fans. Ban Heesoo is a fictional character who represents both the character who films the members with a camcorder in the "Ditto" music video and the fan base, Bunnies.

The videos shared on the Ban Heesoo channel received enthusiastic responses from fans. However, on September 2, Shin announced, "It appears that there are policy changes at ADOR under the new management. Due to ADOR’s request for deletion, all NewJeans MV-related videos, the channel, and even planned uploads by Dolphiners are now restricted from public release."

In response to fan criticism, ADOR released an official statement on September 3 via its channel: "The 'ETA' music video director's cut uploaded on Dolphiners' channel includes edits previously disputed with a former advertiser and was posted without permission. We only requested the removal of that director's cut and did not demand the deletion or suspension of all NewJeans-related videos on the Ban Heesoo channel, nor has there been a policy change on ADOR's part." Ador further stated that the claim that they demanded the removal of all NewJeans-related content was false and promised to re-upload deleted content to ADOR’s official channel.

On September 10, Shin responded, "Why do they keep changing their statements and lying, when simply admitting wrongdoing and apologizing could have resolved this?" He clarified that the contentious director's cut of the video was produced with full consent among the three parties involved and stated that there were minor adjustments to taglines, but there were no real issues with the video's release.

Shin also indicated his intent to take legal action, saying, "It seems this matter will now go to court. Legally, this should be a straightforward case. It appears that ADOR just wants to delay and avoid public scrutiny. Since they haven't apologized, we will submit or release our recordings, emails, and relevant materials as needed, and I will sue CEO Kim Joo-young and Vice CEO Lee Do-kyung for defamation."

As of the morning of November 8, ADOR has yet to release an official response regarding Shin's lawsuit, and attention is on how they will address this matter in the future.