Contrary to MC Mong's initial position that he didn't prompt the EXO members to leave SM Entertainment, a leaked recording exposed his intention to recruit Baekhyun and Kai.
Leaked Recording Exposes MC Mong's Intention to Recruit EXO Baekhyun, Kai
Earlier in May, singer MC Mong (Shin Dong Hyun) was accused by SM Entertainment of prompting EXO-CBX to sue and leave the company due to unfair contract conditions and payments.
At the time, he denied the allegations and claimed that he was only comforting his juniors like Baekhyun, and attested that there was no intention to recruit the artists.
ALSO READ: MC Mong Denies Involvement With SM & EXO-CBX's Legal Dispute in Official Statement
However, in a recording obtained by the Korean news outlet, it was confirmed that although he wasn't involved in the EXO-CBX incident, MC Mong had been trying to recruit some EXO members, such as Baekhyun and Kai, for a long time.
In the recording, the veteran artist and record producer was at a meeting with a number of entertainment industry officials when he mentioned the aforementioned idols.
MC Mong particularly said:
"I really want to bring Kai and Baekhyun. I'm working f***ing hard on it."
The recording also contains MC Mong's attempt to justify his recruitment, unilaterally claiming that SM Entertainment's contract with EXO is "unfair."
MC Mong continued that the group received ridiculous payments while doing domestic and foreign tours in the past.
MC Mong went to the end of the recording and said:
"I really want to bring Kai and Baekhyun. I'm working f***ing hard right now. That's how I'll become No. 1."
Summary of EXO-CBX Incident Involving MC Mong, SM Entertainment
As per confirmation, the leaked recording was recorded in January 2022, and it was only until June 2023, after a year and five months that the EXO-CBX incident happened.
In this fiasco, EXO Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin notified their agency SM Entertainment of the termination of their exclusive contract and filed a lawsuit with the Fair Trade Commission due to overdue payments and unfair "slave" contracts.
When the news broke, SM Entertainment claimed that an "external force" was involved in the conflict, which was later on identified as MC Mong. However, the record producer immediately stated that the allegation was "groundless."
After various discussions with EXO-CBX, SM Entertainment eventually announced that the incident has been resolved and promised to solidify their relationship through equal consultation and modification.
SM also apologized to MC Mong, stating that the company "misunderstood" the intervention of an external force. The producer then accepted the apology and thanked SM.
However, in the transcript secured, it was confirmed that MC Mong was trying to recruit EXO members (Kai and Baekhyun).
The magazine concluded:
"In other words, the 'attempt to recruit' itself, which is the core content of the report that SM Entertainment received during the CBX incident existed."
Regarding this, an official from SM Entertainment responded:
"We have not figured out what MC Mong intended to say or what kind of attempt he made."
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