SPIRE Entertainment has responded to reports that OMEGA X has cut off communication with fans on Korean platform Fancafe by changing their passwords.
Earlier, Korean news site Sports Kyunghyang reported that the agency changed members’ access passwords without notifying them. Some got access but some couldn’t login.
In response to the report on December 2nd, SPIRE Entertainment stated that the approach was changed due to a personnel change in the fan marketing department. As translated via Soompi:
“Due to a change in the employee in charge of fan marketing, we are in the middle of changing passwords for the official fancafe. Once the transition is complete, [OMEGA X members] will have access restored and we will immediately allow them to resume communication [with their fans].”
The agency’s relationship with idol group VAMOS was recently revealed to be full of “mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse.” The group held a press conference to reveal the truth and said it would take legal action against the company.
SPIRE Entertainment addresses change the password of the fan cafe OMEGA X
For over two months now, SPIRE Entertainment has been making headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons. When a fan revealed that the CEO was beating up OMEGA X members in public, further accusations of the agency’s mistreatment of idols surfaced.
OMEGA X later created a personal Instagram account without the supervision of SPIRE Entertainment to communicate directly with fans. However, local South Korean news reported that the agency took away members’ access to their fancafe accounts and changed their passwords.
The agency then responded that it was a move to prevent artists’ personal information from being leaked when they changed members of their fan marketing department. The agency stated:
“We didn’t intentionally cut off communication between [the members] and their fans; it was a measure we took to prevent their personal information from being leaked during the process of changing the employee responsible for fan marketing. Currently, each member has been assigned a new password and can now access the fancafe.”
When news of the members’ access restrictions first broke, K-pop fans were furious at the agency’s continued mistreatment of the group.
As OMEGA X continues to post on their personal group Instagram account, several of the group’s events have made headlines. The group is said to have applied for all of its rights to the trademark on November 14, and reported a day later that it would reportedly press charges against the agency’s now-former CEO.
The group’s Japanese social media accounts were shut down on November 30, 2022, after SKIYAKI announced the termination of their contracts with SPIRE Entertainment due to an abuse scandal. SKIYAKI is Japan’s largest fan media company.
In the meantime, the group will seek to cancel the contract with the agency.