A legal battle for nearly a year between the K-pop act NewJeans and their record company, ADOR, was resolved with the members going back to the company. But the settlement resulted in a row with their fans. Read on to find out more about the backlash.
The Lawsuit Finally Ended
After a court verdict in Seoul favored their contracts until 2029, the group chose to return to ADOR, a HYBE subsidiary. The story of the lawsuit, which started with a joint termination letter from all five members in November 2024, finally ended.
The members alleged ill-treatment. Later, a court prevented them from using the NJZ name by issuing an injunction. It was announced by two members, Haerin and Hyein, that they were returning on November 12, 2025, but it was unclear what Minji, Danielle, and Hanni would do until they too made their announcement.
An Analysis
A summary on the Dramatized vlog on Thursday morning, talked about rumors that the three members decided to return together. However, they got a terribly negative reaction online. The host said the speculation on the trio’s return “triggered a massive online debate.”
Statement about the return of the group – Newsen via Dramatized – YouTube
In fact, Korean internet users were quick to voice their opinions about NewJeans. Notably, a lot of them were strongly against Minji, Danielle, and Hanni rejoining the group.
The vlogger emphasized the harshness of the backlash by referring to controversial online comments as “pretty severe.” Among them were such views as, “Minji, or the… Hanni, I never want to see… again.” In her opinion, such reactions seem to see the legal fight not only as a dispute, but also as a loss of trust.
Unrecoverable Image?
The report finished by saying that NewJeans’ poor public image in Korea is the reason for the hostile reaction. The Dramatized vlogger thought that K-pop stars “Minji, Danielle, and Hanni’s reputations in Korea have been really damaged.” At the center of the issue is whether the public will ever accept NewJeans in the same way again.
Mostly, it seems that netizens see the K-pop comeback as a loss of moral ground. So, there are some fears that the group should be worried about their future musical identity.
Fans React
In the comments section, more netizens weighed in with their opinions. One of them wrote, “Don’t MHD understand that they completely broke the trust of the company?”
Here are a few more responses from the discussion area:
- There’s no such thing as a “full return as New Jeans.”
The oldest three simply realized how bad it looked after seeing ADOR’s announcement and various headlines that “Hyein and Haerin are back.” So they hastily issued a statement to correct the headlines, saying, “In fact, all five are back.” - When the 3 came back or all of them in one group, they will say like this, “See, we’re still relevant, talented, famous, have strong charm in brands and fans all over the world and that’s why Ador still wants us to come back after all we’ve done to this agency and HYBE.” Congratulations Ador and @HYBELABELS for being stupid!.
- New Jeans and family should go to a school of morals, ethics, and humility. They would probably fail that school. Character comes from upbringing and from examples.
What do you think of the strong reactions to the news about NewJeans? Is their reputation over and done forever? Let us know in the comments below, and come back often for all your K-pop news and updates.
