Singer and actor Lee Seung Gi has expressed a sense of betrayal towards his former agency, Hook Entertainment, and its representative, Kwon Jin Young.
On the morning of the 24th of May, Lee Seung Gi attended the second hearing of the debt existence confirmation lawsuit, which was filed against him by Hook Entertainment, at the Seoul Central District Court, and read his petition.
Lee Seung Gi expressed his emotions, saying, “I have been with Hook Entertainment from my teens to my 30s. If they had honestly handled the existence and settlement of royalties, I don’t think this would have happened. It makes me feel emotional.”
He continued, “I want to talk about how a celebrity with as many years of experience as Lee Seung Gi, and someone as well-known as I am, could go through 20 years without knowing about these basic rights. While preparing to become a celebrity, I endured verbal and physical abuse from CEO Kwon Jin Young. She would say things to undermine my self-esteem, like ‘I could pick anyone off the street and raise them better than you.'”
He added, “This kind of treatment went on for years, and my parents felt like criminals for entrusting their child to the agency. CEO Kwon made my parents cancel insurance policies and pensions, causing financial loss, by telling them not to interfere.”
Furthermore, Lee Seung Gi stated, “When I first found out about the existence of royalties in 2021 and asked if I could see the settlement statement, she looked at me with a disappointed expression and said, ‘How can I give you money when you’re a minus singer? I didn’t talk about this to protect your self-esteem.’ When I asked for the settlement statement while establishing a personal corporation to continue my career as a singer, she said she didn’t have it, and that’s how it led to this point.”
Lee Seung Gi and Hook Entertainment have been in conflict over settlement fees since 2022. Lee Seung Gi claims that he has not received a single penny of revenue from music-related activities for 18 years since his debut, while Hook Entertainment refutes the claim of “zero settlement.”
Hook later paid Lee Seung Gi approximately 5.4 billion won [$3.9 million], which included unpaid settlements of around 2.9 billion won and delayed interest of about 1.2 billion won, and filed a debt non-existence confirmation lawsuit. Meanwhile, Lee Seung Gi contends that Hook still owes him more in advertising settlement payments.
Source: (A)
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