Video of OMEGA X’s Jaehan being abused by the group’s CEO released by SBS

Spire Entertainment recently tried to shrug off allegations of physical and verbal abuse of OMEGA X by the company’s CEO, responding that it was all some kind of misunderstanding. However, SBS has just released video evidence of the CEO abusing member Jaehan.

In the video, the CEO insults the group and then moves to berating Jaehan, who seemed to be having some kind of panic attack. When member Taedong tried to step in, the CEO continued yelling before grabbing Jaehan and seemingly pushing him down.

After finishing a post-performance dinner, Kang said to the OMEGA X members, “Why do you think XXs like you deserve to be loved by people? XXs who don’t know what it means to be loved are loved. I know how XXing calculated you are.” Kang yelled at member Jaehan, who was sitting down with symptoms of panic, saying, “Get up. If you get sick like this every day, stop being an idol. […] CEO Kang said, “I know how many times I fell. It hurts to death. I made it all night even if it hurts to death.” They continued to force Jaehan to stand up. “I know how many times I stumbled. I was so sick I could’ve died. Even though I was so sick I could’ve died, I worked all night.” It is reported that CEO Kang’s abusive language continued even after arriving at the hotel.When Taedong tried to move Jaehan, Kang shouted, “You all did this to me. When I was having such a hard time, did you take care of me?” Taedong defended by saying, “He’s on the verge of collapsing.” As he protested, Kang said, “I’ve already collapsed.” They then pulled Jaehan’s collar and knocked him down on the ground. He is then seen weeping as he rises back to his feet.

When SBS contacted the company about the video, they ran the same playbook of victimizing themselves and downplaying the incident.

SBS contacted Kang for a telephoned statement, where they denied the allegations of abuse, saying, “I never yelled at the members nor did I assault them. […] Both Jaehan and I collapsed. I was really sad, so I asked, ‘Did you guys protect me? Did you protect me when I was having such a hard time?'” 

Of course, the video only legitimized the fan’s account and audio of the incident, in addition to a non-fan’s witness report about the CEO verbally abusing OMEGA X. Thus, I’m honestly not sure what the company is doing here now that video is out as well. She’s talking about this like it was some kind of mutual combat situation and not just her abusing a person clearly in a fragile state.

The worrisome thing is how this is going to play out because unless the company is somehow shamed into releasing them from their contracts or the CEO steps down, they’ll still have control over the group in this utterly toxic work environment. Hopefully it works out for them in the end somehow.