Article: The reason for the conflict between the agency and Chuu as seen by a former Blockberry staff
Source: YTN
Former employee A has come forward testimony regarding LOONA.
On the 28th, former Blockberry staff A who requested anonymity told YTN, "The initial conflict originated from profit settlement. The problem was that the company made too large of an investment from its founding while working on the LOONA project."
The LOONA project was where LOONA was created. The agency revealed one member every month and debuted a unit when a certain of members were filled and 3 units merged to become LOONA.
Regarding this, A revealed, "We produced albums for each member and also produced music videos in overseas locations. Promotions were held to promote LOONA all over downtown Seoul. As far as I remember, it cost close to 1 billion won before debut. On top of that, a considerable amount of money was spent on the album and promotion costs of each of the three units. Even if we calculated Chuu's recent active schedules and CF profits, it's not a situation where the debt would've been settled."
He added, "On top of that, Blockberry received investment from a Japanese IT company Donuts in 2017 but lost the lawsuit due to contract violations in 2020 and had to return the entire investment of 3.5 billion won. Nevertheless, as LOONA received attention from overseas fans, they were able to make some profit from overseas tours. But then all tour plans got cancelled because of the corona."
Regarding teamwork among the members, A stated, "The process for recruiting LOONA members wasn't all smooth. The 9th to 12th members made their debut not long after being accepted. There was absolutely not enough time for them to naturally blend into the team."
As to the possibility Chuu may have abused staff, A cautioned, "I don't think I can guarantee anything on whether Chuu abused and power tripped staff. However, I don't think the company took such a position solely for the purpose of damaging Chuu. I think we need to wait and just watch the situation."
