French Media Calls BTS “Biggest Victim Of HYBE & Min Hee-jin Fight”

On May 5th (local time), French media outlet Paris Match reported that the seven members of BTS had been caught up in rumors and criticism due to HYBE’s internal legal battle in an article titled “BTS became the biggest victim in the company’s internal war unrelated to themselves”.

According to Paris Match, HYBE-related issues were unintentionally linked to BTS because HYBE was founded based on Big Hit Music, the music label that discovered BTS, and the majority of the corporation’s income comes from this team. They also pointed out that Korean media had been spreading all kinds of rumors about BTS, such as involvement in cult and chart manipulation, since last week.

Paris Match said, “While overseas media did not resonate much due to lack of evidence, the Korean press addressed it as if it was a serious issue. BTS’s label Big Hit Music called their legal representatives to prosecute those behind the rumors and announced legal actions, stating that they had identified the sources of malicious posts.” They added that Big Hit Music recently apologized for causing discomfort to fans over their response to rumors. 

In addition, Paris Match reported that rumors such as BTS’s involvement in cult activities of Dahnworld, suspected of having a relation to HYBE, and BTS members’ alma mater Global Cyber University being operated by the founder of Dahnworld would also be subjected to legal actions. Paris Match pointed out, “The media speculates that HYBE could have been a target of a rumor campaign”, adding, “While it’s difficult to find evidence, our search on X (formerly Twitter) in April revealed dozens of accounts sharing rumors. These accounts appeared to have few or almost no subscribers.”

According to the French media, all seven members of BTS are serving in the military and cannot defend themselves so the situation has become more urgent. In other words, it is impossible for the members to express their opinions on recent issues. They said, “It is unfair to ask Jin, the eldest member who will be discharged from the military in June, to handle the issue while he’s on duty. We cannot expect leader RM to release a position on the issue unrelated to him”, adding “Is the country that celebrated BTS’s 10th debut anniversary with grand fireworks turning their back on the people who bring glory to them? Just a few days ago, Jungkook was even selected among Top 100 most influential Asians in the world”.

Paris Match also mentioned when BTS’s fandom ARMY sent condolence wreaths to HYBE’s office building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul demanding the company’s strong protection for BTS. They said, “This behavior is enough to once again create topics for the Korean media, which has always been harsh on celebrities, to write articles. In the meantime, the legal battle between HYBE and Min Hee-jin is pushed behind”.

As such, overseas fans and media believe that Korea is treating BTS unfairly. Especially, ARMYs are criticizing Korean media and the public by trending the hashtag “SOUTH KOREA APOLOGIZE TO BTS”.