The now 8-member girl’s group of SNSD (Girl’s Generation) had quite the whirlwind 24-hours since any K-ent incident I can remember in years. Now former member Jessica dropped the bombshell that she had been abruptly kicked out from SNSD even as she was headed back to Korea from NYC to join her fellow members to jet to Shenzhen China for the group’s first Chinese fan meeting. It took SM Entertainment many hours before releasing the official statement confirming that Jessica was indeed out of SNSD but would still be managed in her solo activities by SM. During the interim period after the news broke and before the official confirmation, the remaining 8 members of SNSD jetted off to Shenzhen for their fan meeting scheduled later that evening. Now the pictures are out from the fan meeting best described by Chinese fans in attendance as absolutely surreal. Nothing was specifically discussed about Jessica’s glaring absence though during some of the songs, Jessica’s portion was left unsung with only music playing. Apparently Seohyun also cried on stage, and with the entire group dressed in black, it was basically sad station central.
This is Jessica’s full statement:
Hello, this is Jessica.
On September 29th I was informed by my company I was let go from SNSD. I couldn’t contain my confusion and pain so I decided to go public about my side.
During my time with SNSD, group promotions were always my top priority before my personal life or business aims. With no regard to my hard work and dedication to the group, I was given notice to leave from the company.
Since the beginning stages of the business preparations until now, I discussed with and obtained understanding from SM and the members on many instances.
Prior to BLANC launching, I received confirmation and permission to do business and even received congratulations from the members.
A mere month after the launching, the members suddenly changed their position in early September and called an abrupt meeting insisting I either quit my business or leave SNSD.
I explained that I received permission from the company, have never neglected SNSD promotions, and cannot cancel the venture within one month of BLANC′s start due to valid business contracts.
I believed that making me choose was an unreasonable request, especially since I’ve always felt being a SNSD member was the greatest thing in my life and I have never thought about leaving.
In shock I visited the company president on September 16th laying out my position and received permission once again to continue my business.
Subsequently I received an one-sided notice on September 29th from the company that I was let go from SNSD. I was unable to participate in the fan meeting event in Shenzhen, China on September 30th the following day. I′ve also been removed from all SNSD activities.
More than anything, I was greatly hurt and couldn′t hide my despair after being told to leave SNSD by my company and members, with whom I′ve given all my passion and love for the last 15 years, all because I started a business.
I want to apologize for causing much worry to the fans even though this wasn′t my intention. I ask for your understanding that this matter isn′t what I wanted. I have always cherished SNSD and will continue to do so in the future. Thank you for always supporting me and loving me.
Jessica Jung
October 1, 2014
The K-media is working overtime to dig into all the reasons for why Jessica was unceremoniously booted from SNSD, and that’s the only way to explain things because of the way it went down. Here are all the various media and/or fan speculations on why SM pushed Jessica out of SNSD:
1. Jessica was always ostracized by the other 8, she never quite fit in. Taeyeon especially did not get along with her. When things got bad between Jessica and SM, none of the other members backed her.
2. Her boyfriend Tyler Kwon was getting too involved her in career at SM and interfering, leading to friction with the other members.
3. She was planning to get married next May to Tyler and with it end her involvement with SNSD at that time, so SM pulled the trigger and preempted her. It may have been accelerated due to the other 8 getting annoyed that Jessica’s heart wasn’t in SNSD anymore even though she perfunctorily participated in all the activities.
4. Jessica’s dream has been to be a fashion accessories designer. She got a step closer with the launch this past August of her line Blanc backed by Tyler. That made some or all the other members envious she was doing well outside of the group and/or annoyed she was way more into the fashion line than being an idol.
5. Money, money money, it all came down to SM being unable to come to agreement with Jessica and her side about how to split the proceeds from Blanc. SM felt that Blanc’s success would be riding on the coattails of Jessica being an SNSD member hence SM should have a bigger cut of the pie.
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Well this is certainly causing ripples..... I suppose this means the end of Girls Generation's reign as the Nation's Girl Group, now? It's like Ginger Spice leaving the Spice Girls.
Not really. Ginger was the lead vocalist with Spice. SNSD has several Very good singers, and even the back up girls are now good enough to carry solo vocals easily. So the loss of one isn't a tremendous loss. Consider that Seo's voice can come close to Taeyeon's now, even the leader isn't indispensible. It will be interesting to see if SME will replace her. Krystal would have been a strong possibility if she would do it, but I don't seen that happening as it would cause all kinds of family trauma. Sera from 9 muses, are you listening? Clearly the best option at the moment.
Even then, Jessica was one of the main vocals. Not even tiffany can change that. Tiffany cant really sing that well. So there only leaves seohyun and Taeyeon. Thats not enough for 8 people
sad that things had to end this way. Big company see bigger money. Sometimes, I feel these idols slave themselves to make it big.
sad to hear the other members made her choose between her fashion career and the group. i don't really get it since some of the other members do other things like acting away from the group, why can't she have her own thing?
I don't think the members made her choose. I believe SM requested them to ask her for them. They obviously weren't happy with the fact that she left. I don't think they wanted to ask in the first place. Secondly, Jessica has her own brand. She owns it and she's in charge. Compared to the members, they did acting. It's like a part-time job. It also works well with being an idol. But a designer? She's is literally the boss. She's the leader, the one in charge and that takes up a lot of time.
I agree with you.. I believe the 8 members don't ant to lose her. Hurt is also drawn in their faces. You see, Sica, Yuri and Yoona are so close to each other. I hope SM's decision will change and they'll bring back Jessica :)
what do you expect? She was basically planning to use the fame from snsd to help her business promote which was unfair. She began to put fashion over snsd and if your snsd's fan wouldn't you want all the members to be equally dedicated? You became jessica's fan because of her role in snsd not her role in the fashion industry. She basically betrayed her fans from snsd in my perspective. The Other 8 members are the victims.
If the other 8 members truly care about Jessica, they will understand and will support her other career and her lovelife because it's her dream. They don't deserve to be called as a team because they never tried to understand Jessica's feelings. The girls were so selfish. They should've fought for her. Her business isn't the real deal here, is it? They just find the perfect timing to get rid of her, just admitt it.
Poor jessica
I wonder why they couldn't have waited until after the fan meeting, since they apparently didn't have the other girls prepped enough to not have gaping holes in the music and stuff. Or even kicked her out or "retired" her or something a few days earlier, so everyone could have gotten this out of their system before they did the fanmeet as 8 if they didn't want her to be there.
Or they wanted to heighten the drama and milk the 'abandonment' narrative for all it's worth... I wouldn't put anything past anybody in K-ent (or entertainment in general).
Yeah, with the whole "She's getting married in May!" and Tyler Kwon saying "No I'm not," as well. Dunno what's up there, whether they were planning on it but just cancelled as a reaction, or if people are making stuff up, but there's for sure lots of media spin going around.
Admittedly, it is perfect "victim" timing.
She was in NY the whole day until the day before. So she didn't go the rehearsals for the FM. I guess it's not a big deal, but possibly it was their excuse to kick her out. She's leaving anyway soon. They just made it quicker.
not taking side, but Jessica has a better PR team in this case, she controls the message so well
Wouldn't it be ironic if that "PR team" was ... Jessica? One woman against the mighty SM's PR machine? Unfortunately for the corporation, that woman has 3 million followers on her social media account.
As a professional management agency, it's a damn inexcusable that they had to end things this way. Like I've said earlier, they could have planned her exit if Jessica truly wanted out or if SM felt that she no longer fits to their interests. This is as abrupt as it goes. Again, it's probably been fortunate that SNSD only had to do a fan meeting, imagine if this had been a bigger event. But even then, unceremoniously booting her off prior to an event, which obviously not only shaken fans, but their own performers in the entire ordeal. Surreal would have been an understatement. It's like visiting a funeral then having a parlor games and party at the same time. I'm surprised that the entire event didn't just devolved into a messy affair. Really, SM, really?
Don't forget SM wasn't planning on releasing the news yet. She was the one who posted the first message on her weibo. They might have tried to discuss the situation more after the China meet, but she killed that with her post. She was the one that was unprofessional by posting in anger and hurt.
Well, for one, the way I'm interpreting all of this is that Jessica was fired without forewarning (ie. it's like riding to work in the morning then receiving a phone call from your boss telling you "you're fired.") The way that the girls themselves who seemed to be unprepared with Jessica's absence in the performance may suggest that all of this was kept "secret" until the very moment she was fired. That's just unethical if not unprofessional in my opinion. Why not release the news AFTER the meet? Jessica can tweet all she wants--it's her prerogative to do so. Did SM expect her to just shut up?
I think SM was the one who was being unprofessional. She was ready/willing to go to the fan meeting. SM could have waited. It was disrespectful to the fans. I can't blame Jessica for posting. She got blindsided and she doesn't want to get blamed by SNSD fans once SM puts a spin on her departure to make it look like the separation was mutual or her doing.
I believe Jessica's statement more she sounded genuinely upset & real. If the members ever released their statement I wouldn't be able to believe it since they will evidently be monitored by SM.
Good luck with Jessica & her future endeavors!
I always wondered when SNSD would fall since girl groups can't last forever! It's sad that it has to come down this way.
True. You can tell from her official statements that they haven't been polished by a PR firm. That's straight from the heart there, from someone in obvious emotional distress. If you're a writer of any caliber, you can tell her statements, including Weibo post, were not "managed." So I'm more inclined to believe her as a result.
I totally agree and believe her statements over SM. I think Jessica wanted to continue being a member because it is that fame that probably would help her fashion business succeed too. I wouldn't be surprised if SM even instructed SNSD to "act" depressed during their fan meeting. I want to believe that there are some SNSD members genuinely upset by her departure, but I'm more sure that there are more that are glad that they have "one less rival."
Now I'm interested in what her sister Krystal will do. Will she back her sister up or stay with the company that cruelly gave her sister the boot. Hmm... money or family?
Not siding any side (yet) but at the moment, I just can't bring myself to believe what SM said/going to say. Big company like SM they are so powerful that they are able to control almost everything, including their idols' lives. And reading from Jessica's, it sounded sincere, and I believe even if she did plan to exit, she would have done it in properly, nobody would want to end their career in such a sad and degraded way.
There have already been articles released about Krystal's reaction. Besides, why would Krystal have to cancel her contract (probably pay a huge fine too), leave her group and her drama because of what happened? Don't forget that Jessica is still under SM too since she recently renewed her contract with them.
Dude/dudette, anyone can write, but you have to be a professional to pull this off, it's like watching a sad movie that makes you cry. Sure the actors/actresses gave the movie to life, but the script is the root source of the crying effect, in this case, perspective is the one that's making this upsetting and realistic effect and the article is the root source this effect, or in some cases the person writing the article is just good at writing or making up stories.
I'm upgrading my comments system so everyone's comments during the upgrade will hopefully show up soon. ^__^ Thanks for being patient!
It's pity we can only upvote comments, not avatars - yours is gawjuss!!
Aish, it's being so buggy, I might turn it off and find a slow time to configure it correctly.
Geez. This really reminds all of us how cut-throat the entertainment business can be. Now matter how good, innocent and united everyone looks on the outside, you just never really know.
I don't think we'll ever fully know the real reasons but I would sympathize with Jessica if any of the listed reasons above were true, and if especially it was because of an impending marriage.