The national 2014 Incheon Asian Games concert organizing committee is under fire for apparently not including JYJ, the official ambassadors, on the list of performing artists at the concert. But is this one big misunderstanding?
Update #1: The Mayor of Incheon has publicly stated he hopes JYJ performs at the concert.
According to a new translated report, Mayor Song stated:“I, too, hope for JYJ’s appearance at the concert but I was notified by the Incheon Development and Tourism Corporation that the line-up issue is being dealt with by MBC. I will make sure to check on the situation with the representatives of the Incheon Development and Tourism Corporation and the committee of the Asian Games.”(4)
JYJ were appointed official ambassadors of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games way back in February “in order to spread awareness of the Asian Games, especially overseas…”. (2)
JYJ’s involvement drew massive attention from local fans and international fans who became interested in the games because JYJ was involved.
Even after winning a lawsuit against their disgraced former management agency, JYJ is still dealing with cowardly behavior from other entities who are actively trying to keep them away from the Korean public.
So fans obviously began to raise questions as to why JYJ’s name was left off the list of performing artists for the 2014 Incheon Asian Games special concert event.
If you were a singer and were named the ambassador of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games in South Korea, wouldn’t you expect to be able to perform at a concert promoting the games? Of course you would.
The hodgepodge of concerned parties includes the Incheon Development and Tourism Committee, the Cultural Activities Department, the IAG Organizing Committee, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and MBC (broadcasting network).
For their part, The Cultural Activities Department is flatout claiming that they are still in negotiations about who will be scheduled to perform. According to translated reports, they claim the lineup “is not set in stone yet”.
However, a concert event advertisement has apparently made the rounds without JYJ’s name on it. Oops.
If the event organizers were telling the truth about still being in negotiations, then this list of performers wouldn’t exist yet because they could never be sure if the groups on the list would actually show up.
Further, at the very least JYJ’s name should have been included even if that list was only a wish-list of potential performers put together by the committee. But JYJ isn’t on it, which means that someone is lying about why the freakin’ ambassadors for the entire event aren’t on the list of performers.
The only way they could be telling the truth AND JYJ’s name wouldn’t have been on that list is if they genuinely thought JYJ wouldn’t perform.
According to a statement released by CJeS, the company working with JYJ, the Incheon Development and Tourism Committee claimed they were told JYJ rejected the offer to perform. However, CJeS said JYJ were never even asked to perform. What happened?
Fans have become suspicious as to why this “miscommunication” suddenly happened, especially since JYJ have been doggedly pursuing any and all opportunities to perform live and on TV in South Korea.
Could it be that some devious person(s) told the Incheon Development and Tourism committee that JYJ wouldn’t perform? Could this be the Incheon Development and Tourism Committee trying to cover their a$ses? We will see soon enough.
The concert event, called the 2013 Incheon Hallyu Tourism Concert, is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The list of performers include entertainers from SM (JYJ’s former management company) like Super Junior and SNSD, as well as other entertainers from other management agencies like JYP and Cube.
When the news first broke, many people thought they weren’t going to include JYJ in this concert event because they didn’t want to piss off those large Korean management agencies (or maybe just one agency in particular).
But could that be the reason? Or could it have truly been a big misunderstanding?
CJeS is currently awaiting final confirmation from the committee as to whether or not JYJ will be able to perform.
According to translated reports, a representative from the Incheon Development and Tourism Committee said they plan to start a “major promotional campaign featuring JYJ next month..” (1).
So right now we’re in a holding pattern to see what the problem is and whether this was a genuine mishap, or whether assholes are trying to interfere with JYJ’s plans again.
With any other artist, these types of issues wouldn’t garner international concern. But Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu are different.
You see, JYJ are now free. They are in charge of cutting their own path, creating their music/style/shows/choreography/etc.
Quite frankly, some vengeful executives don’t want those freed slaves types of artists hanging around and spreading any lofty ideas to the others. And they certainly don’t want their other artists to stand up for JYJ by boycotting or taking to the airwaves to protest.
All of those “sunbaes”, “hyungs” and “noonas” who haven’t opened their mouths in PUBLIC support of JYJ will only watch and see.
To their enemies, JYJ need to be seen as failures so those enemies can set an example for the rest of their artists. But each of these “misunderstandings” and outright battles have only hardened and increased JYJ’s support.
Any other group who wants to challenge the antiquated, totalitarian Korean entertainment setup will have to deal with the same pressures as JYJ… for now. But time always moves forward.
The South Korean government is going to have to deal with these purveyors of totalitarianism in entertainment sooner or later.
The only way international respect will come to the Korean entertainment system as a whole is when powerful management executives stop being butt-hurt over JYJ (or any other artist who wants simple freedoms) and start creating a better system.
As for this event, we shall see whether JYJ will take their place on that stage or whether the cowards and their connections will keep the ambassadors of this event off the stage and off the air.
@dongbanger
Related:
(1) http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/37080/20130807/korea-music-wave-2013-jyj.htm
(2) http://www.soompi.com/2013/02/20/jyj-appointed-as-ambassadors-for-the-2014-incheon-asian-games/
(3) http://jyjsoul.com/post/43460456431/jyj-appointed-as-2014-incheon-asian-games-ambassador
(4)http://dongbangdata.net/2013/08/08/trans-130808-a-concert-without-jyj-song-young-gil-the-mayor-of-incheon-says-i-too-hope-for-their-appearance/