April's Chaewon and Yena have broken their silence over the allegations of bullying and violent behaviour mounted by the former member of the group, Hyunjoo. They have outrightly denied all the allegations in separate statements that they released on their respective social media pages.
Chaewon's Statement
Chaewon states that she never divided Hyunjoo with other members of the group. After Somin's exit, she took the responsibility of uniting the team members as she was the senior member of the team.
The 24-year old claims that she paid more attention to Hyunjoo considering that she was physically and mentally weak. She reveals about their mothers sharing a good equation due to their friendship even before they made their debut in 2014 for which she has proofs.
The Produce 101 contestant also denied allegations of dating the then manager of the group. "Also, I am truly upset about the false rumor [that I dated] a manager, and it is complete nonsense. The idea that a manager could overlook company matters however they wished is impossible, and our manager at the time must have undergone a lot of stress due to Hyunjoo. I also have proof related to this." she is quoted as saying by Soompi.
She claims that every person had a tough time then and they were not matured to handle this situation. Chaewon also denied all the allegations made by Hyunjoo. She adds, "In the hopes of revealing the truth about all these things in the court of law, I held myself back over and over again no matter how unfair and upsetting [the allegations and speculation] became. Because I could not act on my own wishes by myself, I had no choice but to wait. However, I now think that I can no longer merely stand by and remain silent. Up until the very end, I will make sure that the truth is revealed no matter what."
Yena's Statement
Yena has spoken about how the team members worked together with the same purpose and goal despite getting exhausted at times. They remained polite even during bad times.
She adds, "However, I always felt that one member was constantly pushing us away. When something happened to all of us, she thought of herself as the only victim, and even in a situation that arose by coincidence, she acted like we were perpetrators. As she did not have faith in the other members, we gradually began to recognize that our many efforts were meaningless."
According to her, it is cruel to expect people from the same age group to take care of a mentally and physically weak person when everyone was going through a difficult phase. She continues, "Yet how are people able to easily speak as if they know us better than ourselves as if they were there and experienced those situations together with us? Ever since that day [that the allegations were made], we have been silently suffering and enduring on our own, just like we did back then [when Hyunjoo was in the group], without even knowing how time is passing by. How much more do we have to suffer? How much longer do we have to endure these kinds of incidents?"
She claims that this wound cannot be healed and it breaks her heart that baseless rumour can make their seven-year hard work "meaningless."
Hyunjoo's Allegations
A month after her brother made bullying and ostracized allegations against April members, Hyunjoo for the first time spoke about the issue. She claimed that she lacked the courage to speak about the sufferings that she faced from her former group members. However, people's love and support have encouraged her to break her silence.
Hyunjoo said that the bullying started in 2014 and she informed about it at some point in time. They brought it to the notice of the agency's CEO, but it fell on deaf ears and she suffered more harassment after the members came to know that she had raised a complaint with the agency.
She further adds, "During those three years, I was forced to suffer because of violent actions and behaviour, ridicule, swearing, and attacks on my character, and it was especially painful to bear groundless insults and attacks on the character of my precious grandmother, mom, dad, and younger brother. The agency knew about this, but only looked on without taking any measures to respond."
She claims that those memories have remained in a corner of her heart and it "became a trauma".
She also accuses the agency of halting her activities and denying work to her and refusing to terminate her contract. She adds, "I will also respond to the criminal lawsuit my agency has filed against me with the help of the people who are supporting me."
Controversy Broke Out Last Month
Last month, a person claiming to be the brother of actress Hyunjoo made bullying allegations against the members of the girl group April. His post read, "She was bullied and ostracized in the group, and due to that, she suffered from many things like panic disorder and breathing difficulties. She even tried to take her own life." The Complete Post can be read below:
