On February 25th, JYPE announced on its official website that Jaebum is permanently withdrawing from 2PM for a secretively vague reason. Already, there has been a backlash from Hottests and non-fans over JYPE’s fishy wording, and now all Kpop followers are scratching their heads over what will happen next for the 2PM members. This situation could easily turn bad for the remaining six members.
(Because POPSEOUL wants to give you the most complete information, this is a fairly lengthy and thorough post about this situation on the official notice and the controversy and backlash that has come from it.)
The official notice claimed that though they were planning a comeback for Jaebum, after he confession to committing a “big mistake,” JYPE and the other members of 2PM had no choice but to let him go.
Here is a translation of the full official posting on JYP Entertainment’s website (www.jype.com).
“Hello, this is JYP Entertainment
In September of last year, it was revealed that 2PM member Park Jaebum returned to the Seattle in the United States out of embarrassment over criticism received from internet postings he wrote as a trainee.
Last September, the news exploded was that the contents of the posting were not to the liking of anyone. But because the words were written in a personal space during the hard days of training, JYPE sympathized with Park Jaebum, as he wanted to take some time off for self-discipline. While that is true, it was not believed that he would permanently end all activities or forever leave 2PM.
At that time, the head office held Park Jaebum back from withdrawing, stopped 2PM activities as a seven-member group, and also was able to try to reason with him. However, although it was taken into consideration that Park Jaebum’s postings were mistranslated by netizens, with some parts exaggerated, it was clear that a good number of people would be hurt by his words. And, as in any situation such as that one, to protect Park Jaebum and with the thought that because of Park Jaebum, the public image of 2PM as a seven-member group could forever be tarnished, the head office came to agree with his [Park Jaebum's] decision.
When an entertainer commits a publicly disappointing mistake, if the person himself does not admit that he was wrong or the representatives does not protect the entertainer, all the more, the public opinion of that entertainer would change for the worse, so it’s a better thought to withdraw from the team and take time away for self-discipline.
Fortunately, after Park Jaebum’s withdrawal, while a sympathetic public opinion for him was running high, many people wanted to give him another chance, showing their benevolent hearts.
In the event that the sympathetic public opinion would under influence once again turn bad, for that time, though it was never released to the public, immediately after Park Jaebum returned to Seattle, the head office began searching for creditable vocal, dance, and acrobatic instructors in Seattle. During that time, the company’s producer Park Jin-young [JYP] went to Seattle on September 29th of last year, in order to personally seek out instructors, conducting mock lessons to thorough create a perfect training program.
All advertisements, performances, events, etc. that are currently in progress for 2PM, and also the contract agreements with the aforementioned activities were not limited to six members. For the time of Park Jaebum’s comeback, the number of people could be adjusted to seven people. Such articles could be inserted [into the contracts], for the preparation of his comeback.
Then, in November of last year, JYPE proposed to Jaebum a comeback with the album that is to be released this coming April. Park Jaebum agreed, and, immediately following the Lunar New Year, was to return in the third week of February and have a press conference. It was planned that in March, activities as a seven-member group would begin.
Once again receiving a friendly public opinion after his departure, the rise of power in the team after his return, and above all the united support of the fans, JYPE and all seven members were full of expectations.
However, because it seemed like the high public opinion could turn bad after revealing Park Jaebum’s comeback too quickly, even though the fans strongly voiced their criticisms, the plan was not to be revealed until the very end.
However, last year December 22nd, Park Jaebum hastily called JYPE Representative Jung Wook and personally confessed that he had committed a big mistake in private.
Last year, in the summer, during ‘Again & Again’ activities, the mistake he committed swelled into a larger problem.
The exact details cannot be revealed as it is a personal and private matter of Park Jaebum, but this new problem is much worse than the reason for his departure in September of last year [MySpace controversy]. Furthermore, socially, it can bring about a much more serious problem. We wanted to immediately consult the other six members with the details of this problem, but after a long time of hearing the news of Park Jaebum’s return, they were restlessly and happily in the middle of tying up year-end activities. Because of that, at that time we could not convey the message to them. Therefore, after the end of all year-end activities, on January 3rd of this year, the details [of the problem] were told to them, and three days later, on January 6th, after much distress, the six utterly shocked members, and moreover all of the staff, expressed the opinion that it would be difficult to continue to do activities with Park Jaebum.
In the judgement that Park Jaebum is no longer suitable to be an entertainer under our company, JYPE has decide to end our exclusive contract with him.
We wanted to immediately inform everyone of this decision, but we hope you will understand that we are inevitably releasing the information now in Park Jaebum’s individual and personal interest.
All the above details, as the valued singer 2PM with their care for the people’s concerns and the high press and public interest concentrated on this case, have been revealed in actuality without even the smallest lie.
The facts were given in detail on the front door because it was determined that false reasons and mistrust and suspicion from the fans and public could easily grow from a snowball effect.
To all 2PM fans, and especially to the many who were awaiting Park Jaebum’s return, we sincerely regret having to deliver such unfortunate news.
In order to introduce a better appearance, JYPE and 2PM will prepare all the more harder.
Thank you.”
Before the official posting, fans leaked news that “there was more to the controversy than the MySpace posting,” perhaps implying this very special, secret reason. Regardless, fans are now outraged at the sudden withdrawal and believe that the notice is “full of lies.” Here are some points Hottests have brought up.
1. On December 31st, JYPE put up a post calling Jaebum the “leader” of 2PM, though this big mistake was revealed to the company on December 22nd.
2. The notice says the members agreed to drop Jaebum on January 6th. At this time, many members were reported to not be in Seoul: Taecyeon was in Boston, and Junho, Junsu, and Wooyoung were in their hometowns. A face-to-face meeting would not be possible to make this decision.
3. Through various variety talk shows in the past few days, the members have been talking about Jaebum, referring to him as though he would return to the team. It seems as though the members were unaware that Jaebum would be gone for good.
4. It’s hard to believe that Jaebum could have done something without the other members knowledge during the “Again & Again” promotions. Not only were the members living together, but they literally had no personal time due to schedules.
5. JYPE may have kicked out Jaebum, not due to his complaints about Korea, but because of his complaints with the unfair contract. Though it is shorter than other entertainment companies, the contract is similar to other Korean entertainers contracts (SM Entertainment: Super Junior, Girls Generation, DBSK), so Jaebum vented about the unfair contract on MySpace as a trainee.
Already, many fans are abandoning 2PM and boycotting JYPE in support of Jaebum, but other Hottests are holding through in order to discover the full story.
It is expected that more fans will bail the Jaebum-less 2PM ship within the next few days. Already, hundreds of fans have appeared in front of the JYPE building to protest the decision, saying “Give back our leader,” and “Without Jaebum, 2PM is only 1:59.”
2PM members are already closing areas of their Cyworld mini-homepages so that fans may not post messages to them.
For the fans, JYPE still has a lot of explaining to do. We’ll have to wait and see how the face-to-face February 27th meeting will go.
