SM Entertainment by Rebekah Walton

{Written and Posted October 7, 2015}

Do not get me wrong, I do not believe everything is wrong with this company. I have recently read about their Trainees in Lay's book,''Standing Firm at 24''. But, I did not think previously that their life was that bad at SM while they were trainees. Obviously, if SM did do everything wrong, then no one would be in their company and no one would stay a trainee for very long. There are tons of other companies. But, I do believe SM has been making some wrong decisions.

 I don't even blame Lee Soo Man for these problems. Wu Yifan thanked the people at SM just recently even though he is suing the company, so, they must be doing some things right. I am not even sure we will ever figure out what is truly going on.

 There may be even some stuff that the idols do not know about that takes place behind the scenes. We know from the recent #YunJaeisback2015 that SM did not want them on the same stage. And we know, that SM has stopped people previously in their company from going on tv or certain shows. They even got recently sued by No Minwoo for this very thing.
http://www.soompi.com/2015/05/11/no-min-woo-sues-sm-entertainment-for-17-year-slave-contract-and-broadcast-ban-sm-responds/

http://www.soompi.com/2015/05/11/no-min-woos-reps-explain-why-he-decided-to-sue-sm-entertainment-now/

We know that SM allows Super Junior to do pretty much anything they feel like now,because members of Super Junior seem to hang out with Hangeng ex-superjunior member who previously sued the company. We know that we have not seen any of TVXQ and JYJ hanging out until the #YunJaeisback2015.

SM to a certain aspect has done some things wrong and I believe is still doing those same things wrong. It is hard to say exactly who is at fault in the company, so, I am not going to try to pin blame on certain people. What I believe is SM needs to shape up and get a hold on things or else they will lose more people to lawsuits. Maybe it is time for a new person to step up, or take over.

{Update: October 8, 2015}

Okay, SM I was trying to say that maybe you weren't the worst company out there. For instance, maybe you treat your artists better than TS, who had all of BAP sue them at the same time. (Now, BAP has gone back to TS, but that is a different story.) But, this statement made by Kim Young Min was just rude.

http://www.allkpop.com/article/2015/10/sm-ceo-implies-former-exo-members-kris-luhan-and-tao-are-selfish-for-pursuing-solo-careers

Not only did he say they were selfish but, he also said,''In the Asian market, and as Chinese-born artists, I wonder what honor they have. I think it's something to consider." (Talking about Kris, Luhan and Tao.) Nope, dude this is just plain rude. Honor is a huge deal, you don't just say that. Maybe, SM you need to consider a different CEO.
 *hint* *cough* Siwon  *cough**hint*

{Updated October 23,2015}

I have just recently watched fan cams for Lay's birthday party and I have been listening to his new songs. I am glad people are finally seeming to notice him in a good way and for the talent he has but hasn't been able to show us properly until now.

Please, SM, do not make him leave. Do not make the situation so bad that any more members have to leave. I want them to stay, but, if you do not change whatever it is you are exactly doing wrong more might leave. Please prove us fans wrong, and become the best company out there so everyone will stay not have to leave for health reasons. Give our idols what they want and what they need o keep them healthy. Give them rest in between large activities, and let them do a mix of solo and group activities. Please if not for the idols, then for us as fans.

Wu Yi Fan Left by Rebekah Walton

The reason why I wanted to leave this post to later is that I wanted to get all my facts straight. There was a lot of controversy over Wu Yifan (Kris) leaving Exo and a lot was unknown. It was originial thought that SM stole Exo's phones except Baekhyun's and made them unfollow Kris on Instagram. This has now been found to have no evidence later backing it up. To read the articles concerning Yifan suing SM, here are links in order of how the news came:

http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/14/chinese-media-reports-that-exos-kris-asked-for-contract-termination/
http://www.hellokpop.com/news/exo-m-kriss-lawsuit-against-sm-entertainment-confirmed/
http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/15/reports-claim-sm-violated-exo-m-kris-basic-civil-rights/
http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/16/exos-kris-updates-his-instagram-with-a-message-to-fans/
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/sm-entertainment-files-official-lawsuit-against-former-exo-member-kris-aka-wu-yifan-641126

But, in light of all that there was an incident that happened before the suing occurred. Kris, in 2013, went on hiatus from the group, and went to visit family in Canada. The rumors were that SM had to convince him to come back. They even delayed their comeback because of this. Here are some articles concerning this matter:
http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/28891/20130525/exo-kris-rumor.htm
http://www.jpopasia.com/news/exos-kris-rumored-to-have-left-group-delayed-comeback::14090.html

But, as it turns out after almost two years have passed, we have finally have word on why he actually left in 2013 according to Kris himself. He also, in this report, tells us why he decided to leave in the first place. Instead of me summing up what he said, I think it would be better if you just read what he says about it. Here is the report:

http://www.soompi.com/2015/07/31/kris-wu-yi-fan-releases-official-statement-in-response-to-sm-entertainments-lawsuit/



But, enough about that and why he left, I also want to go over what the reaction of fans to this, my reaction to this, and leave links to what Tao and Lay have said about Kris leaving. Keep in mind that we might find out more as we go along because Lay wrote a book on Exo and his journey and he most definitely will include some of his thoughts on this in his book. The book is called,Standing Firm at 24. But, as a great number of us cannot read Chinese, we will have to wait for a translation. So, while we wait, let us keep in mind what Lay and Tao have previously said and keep in mind that a lot more goes on behind the scenes than what we see.

Fans were divided on this issue. Some fans believed that Kris had every right to leave. Others believed it to be a sense of responsiblity that Kris lacked which caused him to leave. Still others were still conflicted over the issue or thought Kris should have waited till after the first solo exo concert to leave.

 My general first reaction was one of shock like most people but, I realized very quickly that we still had no real idea what was going on and decided to support both Exo and Kris. I quickly changed my facebook pictures to show support for Kris and I even ranted and spoke to my family on the subject. My siblings agreeded with me and I spent a lot of time on twitter checking through the tweets with the #WeMissYouKris and #WeBelieveinKris.


But, before I get into my reaction really I should state how long I have been a fan of Exo and how I got into them. I was into kpop back in early 2013, but, you can read about that in another post. I heard about Exo, and even picked two biases,one from Exo-M and one from Exo-K, Chen and Kai. But, I really did not become a fan till Exo Showtime. I watched Exo Showtime and I fell for the group as a whole. I watched all their music videos and was pretty involved. For most of us kpoppers, we know what a bad year 2014 was. First, Leeteuk's parents died in early 2014, the Sewol Ferry incident happened, the death of RiSe and EunBi, two members of Exo leaving, Luhan and Kris, and BAP suing their company.Not to mention all the dating scandals that were released that year, so, the hate againist those idols dating was huge. It was very unfair to those idols who just simply wished to carry on normal dating lives.

As some of the shock and despair at not seeing OT12 again has worn off and I have come to accept that Kris left, I have thought about why Kris did not tell any one in Exo that he left. The conclusion that I came to was this. Kris, did not know how to explain that he was leaving to the Exo members. For anyone who has watched Exo Showtime, it is very evident that Kris was not really one to express his feelings and thoughts very well. He liked to keep a certain image and it would be hard for anyone to tell their members that they were leaving. I can't image doing that myself, I would probably end up staying just because I couldn't decide how to tell my group that I was leaving. We need to also keep in mind that Kris was the first person to leave. It is always harder for the first to leave. He may have also know that his members would have most likely tried to keep him from leaving. They would have probably have said things like,''At least stay for the concert,'' or ''We can make it through this.'' It would be very hard to listen to those things, and then leave.

Here is the articles about what Tao have said on Kris leaving:

http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/15/sm-announces-exo-concert-will-go-on-as-planned-kris-attendance-unsure-other-members-speak-out/

Tao, later in this interview and mentioned in my post on Tao leaving has something else to say on Kris leaving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLA3oBvSdOc

Here are articles about what Lay said about all three leaving and Luhan and Kris leaving before:

http://www.soompi.com/2015/04/20/lay-discusses-the-impact-of-kris-and-luhans-departure-on-exo-and-sme/

http://www.koreaboo.com/news/lay-reveals-exo-members-asked-if-he-would-leave-the-group-after-departure-of-kris-and-luhan/
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/exo-member-lay-talks-about-former-teammates-kris-luhan-tao-will-he-leave-sm-entertainment-644631


I want you guys to keep in mind that all exo members were hurt when Kris left. So, some of them like Tao did respond in anger and in the moment. There was no way Kris could have left without someone getting hurt.

I think as Exo-L we should support OT12, in whatever the members decide to do.

One thing I would like to mention that was a good thing from all this is that we found out that each of these three members that left had more talent than were seeing from them while they were in Exo. Kris, became an actor and he can sing pretty well even though he is a rapper. LuHan became a model, actor (he even got a hollywood movie), and singer. Tao produced his own album and became part of a video game. Kris became an MC for a variety show, Luhan is on Running Man Chinese version, Tao got in a movie with Jackie Chan. All of them are doing well, and I am very proud of them.

(Updated May 10,2020)
We got a show with OT3 all on the same stage again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjtWF4DIx6E

Also, a few weeks ago Luhan and Kris collabed on a song together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gPltH46H_k