NewJeans Hiatus Official Following Injunction, Hong Kong Show

Following a court order to cease performing and inking sponsorship deals without the involvement of Hybe’s Ador, NewJeans (aka NJZ) has announced plans “to pause all our activities for now.”

The five-piece group confirmed the hiatus to cap off a performance at ComplexCon Hong Kong. As we covered last week, that show moved forward despite an injunction compelling NewJeans to pause its solo activities (meaning its activities without Ador).

And as many already know, the act took steps to terminate its professional relationship with the agency this past November, citing alleged contractual violations stemming from a broader dispute between Ador’s since-ousted founder and Hybe brass.

Meanwhile, Hybe/Ador higher-ups are adamant that the agreement remains in effect, and they made as much clear when confirming they’d allow NewJeans’ ComplexCon show to proceed.

Notwithstanding said show and the injunction, the overarching showdown is far from resolved.

In the first place, NewJeans has already vowed to appeal the injunction ruling, and a court hearing on a separate challenge to the multiyear deal itself is slated for early April.

Second, when informing fans of their hiatus, NewJeans members went ahead and emphasized plans to dig in against Hybe in the marathon contract confrontation.

Having performed a new track during the roughly hour-long set, members took turns reading from prepared remarks to wrap things up. Delivered in both Korean and English, those remarks, elaborating on the main hiatus takeaway at length, are transcribed in their entirety below.

DMN also reached out to Hybe/Ador for comment but didn’t immediately receive a response. In any event, all eyes are now on the above-mentioned April hearing, which, per the Korea Times, is scheduled for the 3rd.

Here’s a transcript of the English-language statement NewJeans members provided during ComplexCon Hong Kong.

“Before we go, we wanted to take this opportunity, while a lot of such wonderful people are with us today, and there’s a few words that we wanted to say. But just in case, cuz we might be a bit nervous, that we would forget a few points that we’ve written a letter to read to you guys. I don’t know if that’s okay for you?

To our Bunnies: Thank you so much for being with us today. This stage means so much to us, and every single one of you here gives us strength just by being here. It is really hard for us to say this, but this might be our last performance for a little while. Out of respect for the court’s decision, we’ve decided to pause all our activities for now. And it wasn’t an easy decision. It wasn’t an easy decision, but we believe this is something we need to do at this moment.

Honestly, we’ve known from the start that this journey wasn’t going to be easy. And even though we accept the court’s ruling and this whole process, we had to speak up to protect the values that we believe in. And that was a choice that we don’t regret at all. We truly believe that standing up for our dignity, our rights, and everything we just deeply care about, is something that we, we had to do. And that belief will not change.

We truly believe that standing up for our dignity, our rights, and everything we deeply care about, is something we had to do. And that belief will not change. And we understand and know that today’s news might be disappointing or upsetting for many Bunnies. But it was not an easy decision for us to make either. But at the moment for us it’s about protecting ourselves so that we can come back even stronger.

Thank you, guys. There was a lot that we had to go through. Things that, really, we only know about. But even amongst all that, there are so many things that we wanted to share with you guys, and so many, like, fun plans that we were excited to announce. But right now, though, it feels too hard to keep going at this pace.

And as strong as we are, trying to stay, it is honestly taking a bit of – taken a bit of [a] mental and emotional toll on us. However, this doesn’t mean that we are going to give up. We will keep pushing forward no matter what, and coming to Hong Kong and receiving all this love and support from you guys at ComplexCon gave us so much strength. Truly, thank you guys so much.

Right now, our hearts are a little bit worn out, and it feels it’d be too hard to just keep going at this pace. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to give up, and we’re going to keep going. And with this – decision we’ve made, we’re respecting the court’s decision. And for now it’s just us taking a step back to pause, take a breath, and gather our hearts and ourselves before moving forward again.

To every Bunny who has been believing in us and supporting us through everything: From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. And we love you so, so, so, so much. And we can’t express how grateful we are. And we promise no matter what the circumstances, we will meet again soon.”