Core Contents Media girl group “T-ara”

T-ara Loses a Member and Faces Disbandment Request

The Core Contents Media girl group T-ara has one successful career. With a
string of hit singles like “Lies”, Bo Peep Bo Peep”, “Lovey Dovey” and
their latest “Day By Day”, the girls were on a roll. Members like Eun Jung
and Ji Yeon enjoyed profitable acting careers on top of modeling and
commercial deals.

However, the girls’ string of success came to a screeching halt the last
week of July 2012 with the announcement of T-ara member Hwa Young being
fired from the group. The CEO of Core Contents Media, Kim Kwang Su,
informed the press
about her departure from the group following her leg injury and inability
to perform T-ara’s choreography. Tweets rang out from the girls, Boram
unfollowed her on Twitter and Hwa Young shared sad and disheartening
messages. Fans where intitally shocked to hear the news and even more so
with the disclosure of Hwa Young’s reported disrespect of Core Content
Media’s staff. The agency claimed that the staff members filed complaints
against the group’s rapper because of her adverse behavior.

While company workers’ complaints came to light, fans found evidence of Hwa
Young’s fellow T-ara members bullying her. Specifically, a photo of Hyo Min
poking Hwa Young in the eye, videos of Boram trying to break her umbrella,
a hearsay report of Ji Yeon slapping her, Eun Jung stuffing a huge rice cake
in her mouth and countless verbal remarks that were hurtful toward Hwa
Young.

What was the result from the multiple news reports?

Many fans have turned their backs on their favorite idol group. T-ara’s
largest online fan community will shut down this month, the group lost
commercials and advertisements and a petition with over 124,000 signatures
was started online requesting that the group disband.  The now anti-fans
have even asked that member Eunjung lose her contracts with the drama “Five
Fingers” and the reality variety show “We Got Married”. She lost ads and
commercials, but to date she has retained her roles on the two television
programs. On the other hand, rumored new member Da Ni will not be joining
the group until December of 2012.

K-Pop fans from Chicago had the following to say about the current
situation:
Jenny states, ” I think that the CEO should just tell the truth to
everybody. He keeps on changing the so called truth he says. We want to
know the truth not the lies. We really want to know if  the T-ara members
bullied Hwa Young or if its just fake…Who knows. We want to know the
truth from the CEO himself and the T-ara members.”

“Honestly, I feel like the more he says, the harder he is making it for
people to believe him. Now, he is digging a hole for him and the rest of
the company that they won’t be able to get out of,” stated Patricia
Alexander.

They are not alone. On August 4, 2012, online group T-Jinyo threatened
protest outside the Core Contents Media building to demand the truth from
T-ara. They are standing against bullying and ill treatment toward people
that lead to suicide.

Despite opposition and the growing anti-fan base, the remaining T-ara
members remain strong. They have scheduled a concert in Japan next year and
there are no official reports of the group disbanding. According to Core
Contents Media, Hwa Young is reported to be working on an official apology
to everyone. Recently, she met with the CEO Kim to begin working out their
differences. On August 3, 2012, CEO Kim agreed to meet with the 3 members
of T-Jinyo.
He assured the press that bullying was not a factor.

Follow Kristy M on Twitter @ShellyM86

I wrote the article above for The Seoul Times – *All rights to the image belong to Core Contents Media & T-ara*