LOONA’s Yeojin Claims She Hasn’t Been Paid Since The Group Debuted

LOONA‘s management has been under fire a lot recently for various issues that the group has been having. Between being criticized for the vagueness of Chuu‘s absence from multiple events to several members becoming ill due to overworking themselves on tour, Blockberry Creative isn’t getting a lot of positive attention lately.

And now, thanks to a recent revelation from member Yeojin, it seems that LOONA’s fans have something else to rightfully be upset about for the group’s sake.

While using a fan app called Fab on September 23, Yeojin was interacting with fans through a text chat about various topics. One of the subjects that came up was whether or not the K-Pop idol was rich, in which she revealed that she wasn’t due to the fact that she hadn’t received money from her label since LOONA debuted.

The girl group officially debuted in August 2018 with “Hi High”, although they had been coming out with fairly consistent pre-release tracks as far back as 2016. If what Yeojin said is true, that means the girls have been working for around six years — and with recent harsh conditions — without even being paid for it.

While it is, unfortunately, not uncommon for K-Pop idols to go for a while without being paid for their work as an idol due to the high costs of being a trainee and the money that goes into debut promotions and content, six years is quite extreme, especially because of the injuries and illness LOONA’s members have been suffering lately.

It’s very possible that one of the reasons their tour has been continuing despite the numerous issues is because they need the money that concerts will bring in. Tours are often one of the biggest sources of income for K-Pop artists, and with the COVID-19 era hitting many groups hard monetarily, LOONA’s current tour is likely even more critical to the label’s income.

Yeojin’s comments have sparked a conversation on Reddit with responses ranging from dismay and outrage to grudging lack of surprise.

Yeojin says she hasn’t been paid since debut from kpopthoughts

The fact that LOONA comprises of 12 members could also be putting further financial strain on them and the label, which was discussed in the Reddit thread as well.

Whatever the reason for it, if LOONA’s members really have worked as hard as they have without anything in their bank accounts to show for it, then something definitely should be changed about how groups such as them are debuted and managed!