This week saw court appearances from idols of two groups that Twicehub has schedules for: the members of NJZ (aka NewJeans), and KG of VCHA. NJZ appeared in court regarding the members' ability to sign contracts outside of ADOR. The group's tribulations have seen widespread coverage so I'm not going to cover it here but I did want people to be aware of it since their legal battles aren't something that have appeared on their Twicehub schedule. However, KG's lawsuit against VCHA's company, JYP USA (a branch of JYP Entertainment), isn't getting much traction, therefore it'll be the focus of this article.
Why is KG suing JYP USA?
In December, KG dropped a bombshell: she filed a lawsuit to terminate her contract with JYP USA due to an alleged history of abuse and mistreatment by the company's staff. Among the allegations (cr. vchcoded) are:
Worse of all, she claims that one of the members had attempted to take their life due to the conditions that the JYP staff put them under.
JYP USA put out a statement a few days later saying that some of KG's claims are exaggerated or false, and suggested that they may fight the lawsuit.
So where are we now?
KG had her first court appearance on Thursday (March 6) in Los Angeles. There she made her case to the judge and asked that the lawsuit be held in court instead of arbitration as requested by JYP USA. For those unaware, legal disputes between employees and employers can be settled out of court in a special process called arbitration. Companies can prefer arbitration because it gives them advantages such as being able to keep lawsuits out of the public eye — which is most notable in this instance. If KG is able to get the lawsuit open to the public then it could result in some very bad publicity for JYP USA.
Ultimately, the judge ruled against arbitration for now, but it is tentative, meaning that the case could eventually move to arbitration at a later date. A future hearing is scheduled two months from now on May 8th.
Where does VCHA go from here?
As for the group, J.Y. Park himself said in November (prior to KG's reveal) that VCHA would return in 2025 with "full activities", but we haven't seen anything from the group yet. It's possible that JYP USA is waiting to see what happens with the lawsuit before bringing VCHA back into the limelight.
My take
Whatever the situation may be between the company and the girls, I hope that we can see a positive outcome for all parties. I watched every episode of A2K as soon as they aired and was very hyped for VCHA, even kicking myself for not attending one of the TWICE concerts that they opened for. So it was disappointing to see the group largely fall of the radar post-tour. It's even more disappointing if KG's accusations are true, however. I hope this lawsuit shakes things up at the company if necessary, thereby remedying any ills and giving KG, VCHA, and JYP USA a brighter future.