Recently, the court has ruled in favor of ADOR regarding the injunction case that prevents NewJeans from independent activity. At the same time, the legal battle between NewJeans and HYBE’s girl group ILLIT has taken another turn, as the court has dismissed claims that ILLIT members ignored or mocked NewJeans.
During court proceedings, NewJeans’ side claimed that:
- Three ILLIT members did not greet Hanni.
- ILLIT members openly mocked NewJeans through their words and actions.
- ILLIT’s manager harassed Hanni by telling the members to “Ignore her.”
However, the court found no sufficient evidence to support these accusations, ruling that:
1. CCTV footage clearly showed ILLIT members bowing 90 degrees to Hanni.
2. Hanni’s own KakaoTalk messages from the next day described how all three ILLIT members greeted her, though somewhat stiffly.
3. No substantial evidence was presented to prove that Hanni was harassed or that her personal dignity was violated.
As a result, the court dismissed NewJeans’ claims, stating that it was difficult to conclude that any disrespectful remarks were made or that ILLIT’s actions amounted to harassment.
Meanwhile, online discussions surrounding the case have been heated, with many questioning why such a minor issue escalated to a legal battle. One related topic to the case on Korean forum “theqoo” has even attracted over 700 comments after just a few hours, and below are some of the comments:
- Honestly, even people who didn’t care much about this situation were like “What’s going on?” because of this greeting issue.
- I mean, even if they said something annoying, is this really a reason to terminate a contract? Ridiculous lol.
- If Hanni received the greeting and even described all three of them doing it, why say otherwise?
- ILLIT is seriously pitiful. They got so much hate. NewJeans clearly didn’t consider ILLIT’s side at all.
- It wasn’t even the ILLIT members who were said to have done something wrong, right? It was the manager who allegedly said “Ignore her”.
With the court ruling against NewJeans’ claims, the controversy surrounding the so-called “Ignore Hanni” incident appears to have reached a legal conclusion. However, the damage has already been done to both groups’ reputations.