Tao's side has responded to SM Entertainment's statement regarding a court case against the former EXO member.
On Wednesday, the management and legal team of Huang Zi Tao (Tao), a former employee of SM Entertainment, countered claims published by the Korean entertainment agency earlier this week. Tao allegedly lost a court case after not paying SM Entertainment back for a "temporary payment," but the new information from Tao's side raises questions.
Tao's side revealed that Tao tried to repay his former company and that SM Entertainment's recent statement was "distorting facts."
Tao released a statement through his Chinese studio's official Weibo page, citing multiple issues with the validity of SM Entertainment's earlier statement.
In the post, Tao's side explained that the former EXO member had tried to reach out to SM Entertainment multiple times to pay back the money he was paid in advance for services that he never performed, due to the artist filing a contract nullification lawsuit.
Tao also said that SM Entertainment's statement defamed his character and tried to sway public opinion regarding the court case.
The full statement, as translated by Soompi, reads as follows:
"On January 5, SM Entertainment released a statement saying, 'SM filed a lawsuit against Tao for failing to repay SM on October 13, 2015. An intermediate court in Qingdao, China made the verdict that Tao is to repay SM Entertainment as well as interest for the delayed payment.'
The statement that SM Entertainment revealed on January 5 is untrue. In order to distinguish from right and wrong and to protect Tao's honor we have released the following statement.
First, before Tao sought to nullify his exclusive contract with SM Entertainment in April 2015, both sides had been negotiating so SM providing temporary payments was a voluntary action.
Second, SM said, 'However, despite clearly knowing the bank account number, he failed to pay back the temporary payments within the promised time.' They hid the truth with this statement. Tao has continuously kept a 'contract-centered mind' and 'principles of faith and trust.' Tao has tried to repay the temporary payments through a representative multiple times and requested a bank account number from SM and has not violated his contract nor any agreements. However, SM did not reply clearly and did not provide the correct bank account number to Tao's representative. SM intentionally filed the lawsuit against the 'delayed repayment' in order to buy time.
Third, SM used exaggerated words in their statement deliberately in order to sway public sentiment towards negative criticisms that harm Korea and China's cultural exchanges.
In order to block SM from distorting the truth, Tao's workshop will submit evidence to dispute their statement. [Tao's] workshop will take legal action against violations to Tao's honor from all statements and reports in order to protect his rights and interests."
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Tamar Herman is a multi-media journalist and the co-founder of KultScene. She is a freelance writer and copy editor, and has written for MTV Iggy, Noisey, and Paste Magazine.
