Kris was so popular among Korean fans that he starred in “Running Man,” one of South Korea’s most popular variety show programs last year.
SEOUL, May 19 (Korea Bizwire) – Since Kris, member of EXO-M, the Chinese unit of EXO, staged a legal action against SM Entertainment last week, an endless stream of rumors and speculations have been flying around as to why Kris turned his back on his agency all of a sudden and how this affair will play out, especially in terms of EXO’s future activities in the longer term.
One thing is certain: the other members of EXO-M are not in sympathy with Kris’ unexpected behavior, even criticizing Kris’ legal battle against the agency as a “betrayal of trust.”
Many EXO-M fans in China, however, don’t seem to go along with the opinion of the remaining members of EXO. Since the “Kris Scandal” broke out, a considerable number of messages from Chinese fans, posted on China’s popular social network sites, has largely sided with Kris. According to text messages posted on Sina Weibo — China’s equivalent of Twitter — for example, a rising number of Chinese fans argued Kris is just “another” victim to SM Entertainment’s “harsh” treatment to their cherished star.
There was a similar accident in this vein in 2009, when Han Geng, former Super Junior member, filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment. At that time, a statement released by Han Geng’s legal team claimed that Han, who happened to be also a Chinese member of Super Junior, was forced to do things against his own will, fined when he disobeyed the company rules, and even refused sick days off when he developed gastritis and kidney problems.
The incident surrounding Han Geng apparently brought out and highlighted SM Entertainment’s arguably “military-barracks” culture affecting every single member of K-pop idols who include S.E.S., H.O.T., Shinhwa, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior and Girls’ Generation who belong to household names in the global entertainment industry.
Who is to blame for this controversy surrounding Kris’ legal act against SM Entertainment? (image: SM Entertainment)
In fact, Kris’ legal team also claimed that the agency considered him as an “object of control” or just “a cog in the whole machine.” And the local entertainment officials have agreed to a claim that strict control systems employed by the agency might have played a role in Kris’ litigation against SM.
As is the case with the military culture, where discipline is strictly enforced, some well-established entertainment agencies, like SM, are well known for applying these seemingly strict rules to many aspiring young entertainers.
The epitome of this “discipline-focused” culture dominant in the local entertainment agencies is the “training camp” for K-pop idols. They reportedly provide intensified camp training for the aspiring idols from the early ages which might come as a “culture shock” to foreign-nationality members, like Kris and Han Geng.
The young “would-be celebrities” have to give up their basic human urges: desire to eat, sleep and sex — to become successful idol stars in a relatively shorter period of time, according to industry observers. That’s why many idols are not allowed to have romantic relationships. No wonder their “secret dating” scenes which have been captured by the local media, have become the talk of the town more often than not.
Kris’ legal team has also claimed that it is unfair and has no legal validity of the contract between him and the agency, given that the company apparently placed an undue burden on him through the contract which significantly restricted his basic human rights, choice of occupation and freedom of economic activities.
Kris and other aspiring idols had no choice but to accept “unfair” contract terms as they begin their training at the very early ages when “reasonable” decisions concerning the contract agreement would have been essentially impossible, argues the team responsible for Kris’ legal act this time.
SM Entertainment is a powerhouse brand in the global entertainment industry. The big league agency can make many things possible armed with their powerful marketing resources. (image: Wikipedia)
However, critics say, life is a series of trade-offs and it should be noted that an overwhelming majority of young idols do their “jobs” without uttering any ostensible complaints regarding the seemingly “stringent discipline” culture and control systems. When allowed everything available for any “average” youth, they contend, how can it be possible to make such an extraordinary idol group able to perform perfect choreography on the stage? It is “no pain, no gain,” so to speak, according to critics.
Whatever the case for or against the “Kris Affairs,” this situation is very similar to the case of Han Geng of Super Junior. As Han succeeded in his “boy group-turns-solo” entertainer in his homeland of China, after the legal spat with SM Entertainment and won the legal case, there is reportedly a strong possibility that Kris would follow the footsteps of Han Geng.
And the circumstances apparently seem to be in favor of Kris: Most Chinese fans seem to embrace or even support Kris’ decision to split with the agency and this was the same with Han Geng’s situation in the past.
SM Entertainment is a powerhouse brand in the global entertainment industry. The big league agency can make many things possible armed with their powerful marketing resources. Upon becoming immensely popular, and thereby securing a huge base of supportive fans — on the back of the agency’s well-organized and sophisticated system, to raise an issue regarding “unfair and inhumane” conditions done to them by the agency has, to some extent, come as a somewhat bitterish taste for many K-pop fans the world over.
Written by Jerry M. Kim (jerrykim@koreabizwire.com)
Contributed by Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
Lifestyle (Follow us @Lifestylenews_Korea)
I feel that Han geng did not really succeed in mainland, yes, he still has fans, but some fans still left him when he made the decision or choice of applying going into space, which shows his body is very healthy with no bad health conditions at all. And he did mention that there was no ill treatment but rather that his spotlight was low and thus he wanted and out. as for kris case, judging from his fan base(in weibo), in which he liked their post before, meaning their info are slightly acurate was that he wanted an all out before this whoo ha was there, his fans stated that they knew about all this way beforehand and made preparations. it is just shocking to know that he made his face and statement sounding that he was still going to be in the team and one moment he is not there. kind of terryfying but shows how the stars are really like.
I support Kris….everyone has a choice. For him to make the decision this early is a good move already. He’s wasting his talent in a company that treats them as money makers. And besides, even though they are celebrities don’t expect them to perfect. Glad he’s thinking about this future.
I don’t fault Kris for getting out of a situation that isn’t good for him. If he feels that this is not for him, he’s young. We all make mistakes and have to learn the truth in life. Young people want to be famous and rich, and don’t have a realistic view of that life. SM is an agency, like all of them are. SM is protective, albeit overprotective. In fact, strict. There isn’t much freedom with groups like EXO where there are too many people to keep up with. F(x) has the most freedom out of all of their groups. BoA worked to be able to have the freedom she has. It can be tiring to constantly perform, travel, make it to photoshoots, and then deal with “real world” problems like illnesses.
What I do fault Kris for is his timing and the way he went about it, which was just days before the EXO tour. For that, he has to take responsibility for. This leaves the rest of the members having to make up for the loss just days, when they had MONTHS of practice. That’s money lost, time wasted, and that puts more stress on them and tires them out. It was inconsiderate. If I were EXO members, I wouldn’t be supportive either. I would be FURIOUS. I can understand why fans support him, but it was still not good timing and selfish in the way he went about it, with little warning. If the other members had known, they wouldn’t have agreed to a tour. F(x) said they all get the choice whether they want a tour or not. They all agreed to one.
The problem is they blew up too much too fast, and Kris wasn’t ready for the demands that come with being a HUGE idol. It is pressure, not just from SM, but from fans. They haven’t gotten comfortable being idols and just enjoying music yet before having this intense schedule.
i support his decision…it’s true…he’s just a cog in a machine and he doesn’t have to endure poor treatment if he doesn’t want to