The members of OMEGA X have shared a group statement after launching a new Instagram account that is not under the control of their agency.
Last month, an OMEGA X fan reported on Twitter that he saw the CEO of the group’s agency, SPIRE Entertainment, slapping the members after their concert in Los Angeles. A fan also posted an audio recording of the CEO yelling at the group.
When the fan’s report gained attention online, others began coming forward with their own accounts of the CEO’s violent behavior, with some pointing out that a similar story had already circulated about a woman who verbally abused members of the group in Chile.
SPIRE Entertainment initially released a statement claiming that OMEGA X and the agency had “resolved all their misunderstandings”, and the CEO also denied any abuse in a phone call with SBS News. However, in the same report, SBS News aired video footage of the incident in Los Angeles captured on an audio recording of a whistleblowing fan, which apparently appeared to contradict the CEO’s claims.
Due to the growing controversy, SPIRE Entertainment canceled the flights of the CEO and all members of OMEGA X back to Korea, causing great concern for the safety of the idols. However, the OMEGA X members were eventually able to return to the country after paying for the new flights out of their own personal funds.
On November 6, OMEGA X finally broke her silence and spoke personally about the situation with her agency. After opening a brand new Instagram account that is not affiliated with SPIRE Entertainment, the group’s 11 members released a joint statement thanking fans for their support and touching on their plans for the future.
OMEGA X – a project group consisting entirely of idols who have already debuted in other groups (most of which disbanded) – also revealed the reason why it took them a while to speak. According to the idols, they had to be careful because they had previously signed an agreement “under duress” stating that they would have to take “civil and criminal legal liability” if they posted on social media without their agency’s permission.
The full statement from the members of OMEGA X is as follows:
Hello,
We created this small space for communication because we wanted to thank the fans who like us and the people who support us, and we also wanted to directly inform you about the current situation through our own mouths, how the parties involved in this incident.
Under pressure from SPIRE Entertainment, we – the members of [OMEGA X] – previously signed an agreement that “if we upload posts on social media without consulting the company, we will have to take civil and criminal liability.” Therefore, we ask for your understanding regarding the fact that that while we wanted to resume communication with our fans as soon as possible, we had to be careful until we arrived at our position with Spire Entertainment.
Even though there were happy moments after starting group activities together, we also had to endure painful moments. Moreover, when the world recently learned of our suffering, we feared that all that we had achieved so far would evaporate and fade away. But now we have decided to put our fear behind us and gather our courage.
Our group was a second chance for our eleven members who came together after rising from hard times of despair and refusing to give up on their dreams.
The only thing that gave us the strength not to give up on our dreams and take on a new challenge was the fans who are waiting for us, believing in us and rooting for us. Thanks to our fans, we were able to last the past two years. There were days when we received such unfair treatment from our agency that it made us want to cry, but our only source of strength to endure it all was remembering the cheers of our fans and reading their messages of support. and when we were trying to sleep.
As before, we plan to continue chasing our dreams until the very end. We will stand in front of our fans again with good music and performances. Our eleven members who all have the same goal and our fans who share our dream are the most precious thing in the world to us and we never want to lose them again.
As many people have been worried and waiting for us, we apologize for the delay in providing this update. Thank you for reading all the way to the end of our honest feelings that we took the courage to share.
Thank you.
Sincerely, OX [OMEGA X]
You can follow OMEGA X on their new Instagram account here.