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SEOUL (THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – South Korean leisure firm CJ ENM, which is behind cable channel Mnet, has formally responded to the vote-rigging scandal surrounding the channel’s flagship audition present.
“I am extraordinarily sorry for the harm it triggered to many trainees who passionately adopted their goals of debuting,” chief govt officer Heo Min-heoi stated at a press convention on the firm’s headquarters in Seoul on Monday (Dec 30).
The apology comes after the present’s key producers have been discovered to have fastened the votes for some contestants in return for monetary favours from their businesses. The producers reportedly admitted rigging votes throughout all 4 seasons within the ongoing investigations.
Describing the scandal as “heartbreaking,” Mr Heo stated the corporate plans to present monetary compensation to the contestants who have been affected by the rigging in addition to offering help for his or her careers.
As a part of its efforts to atone, Mnet’s earnings from the Produce sequence might be used to ascertain and run a fund value practically 30 billion gained (S$35 million) to assist the Okay-pop business for not less than 5 to seven years by supporting businesses and songwriters in addition to by discovering new expertise.
It was additionally introduced that Iz*One and X1, teams that have been born out of Produce 48 (2018) and Produce X 101 (2019) respectively, will resume their actions quickly.
The choice comes months after the controversy emerged.
In the summertime, curious viewers detected a sample within the vote margins separating the highest 20 contestants and started speculating. Even South Korean lawmaker Ha Tae-kyung chimed in to criticise the cable channel, saying the method was “stuffed with errors”.
A police investigation adopted.
Mr Ahn Joon-young, a director of the Produce sequence, and Mr Kim Yong-beom, the programme’s chief producer, have admitted a lot of the fees towards them in reference to the vote-rigging scandal. Mr Ahn and Mr Kim are amongst eight individuals who have been indicted on fees of enterprise obstruction and fraud.
Whereas an inside probe continues, CJ ENM says it has no plans to disclose the victims’ names because it believes this might not be of their greatest pursuits.
For the reason that first season aired in 2016, the Produce sequence continued for 3 extra profitable seasons. It has given beginning to in style teams like I.O.I, Wanna One and Iz*One.
Within the wake of the vote-rigging scandal, Iz*One have been compelled to cancel the release of its first full album in November, which was then titled BLOOM*IZ.
Each Iz*One and X1 have been additionally absent from the 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards in December.
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