Ex-Girl’s Day Jang Hyeri exposes ‘sponsorship proposal’: “A famous CEO demanded a meeting, promising to support my career”
A video titled “You drank and went to hell?” was uploaded to the YouTube channel “Channel Gofixhae”.
On this day, broadcaster Shin Jung-hwan, Kang Byung-kyu, exorcist Lim Deok-young and trot singer Jang Hyeri gathered to discuss various topics related to alcohol.
First, Kang Byung-kyu remarked, “You know how some idols are doing really well these days? There are people who constantly invite them to drinking parties under the guise of a friend-of-a-friend connection, luring them into risky situations that could lead to scandals. We call these people ‘devils’.” He spoke about the difficult-to-refuse temptations of such gatherings.
Jang Hyeri then admitted, “I’ve been to one before. I even sang there.” She continued, “The hardest part is when people say, ‘Let’s have a drink and talk about work’ or ‘You need to network like this to grow in the industry.’ There are so many of these kinds of proposals. These days, it’s not just about alcohol—golf is becoming a substitute. People ask, ‘Do you play golf?’ or ‘Shall we play a round together?’ I don’t drink and don’t enjoy these kinds of gatherings. Sometimes I wonder, ‘Do I need to attend if I want to work more?’“
Hearing this, Shin Jung-hwan added, “Even male rookies or active celebrities get called by their managers to these gatherings. And at those places, they’ll say things like ‘Come over here’ or ‘Show us a dance’.“
Jang Hyeri shared a personal story, “When I was a rookie, I went to one of those drinking gatherings. There was a very famous CEO there, and he had also invited male rookies to sing. Then, he made a proposition to me, ‘I’ll support your career, but in exchange, you have to be my girlfriend.’“
She continued, “I was shocked and said, ‘I don’t think so.’ Then he started mentioning other female celebrities he had ‘helped’ through similar arrangements and told me, ‘I’ll make you like them too.’ I was young, and my pride was hurt. I thought, ‘I have to succeed without resorting to this.’ But he told me, ‘You’ll never make it that way. This is how things work in this industry.’“
She added, “Since he’s still active in the industry, I occasionally run into him. Whenever that happens, he says, ‘You didn’t accept my offer back then, and that’s why you’re not famous now.’“
Kang Byung-kyu then asked, “Do you regret it?” Jang Hyeri replied, “I do wonder, ‘What if I had made a different choice back then?’ But how could I trust that person and give him everything? Even if I could go back in time, I still wouldn’t do it.“
Meanwhile, Jang Hyeri, born in 1992, debuted as a trot singer in August 2020 with the single “Spouse” and has been actively promoting since.