EXO Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen Sue SM Entertainment, demand contract termination

EXO members Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen have sued their label SM Entertainment for the termination of their contracts. The trio shared the news to the public by releasing a statement, through their law firm Lin, on Thursday (May 1). The three idols requested records of their earnings and payments from March through May, seven times in total but the company never shared those details, according to LIN. 

And to top it all off, SM made musicians sign contracts with them that required them to work for the agency for at least 17 to 18 years. A typical legal contract is for seven years in South Korea, and if that time period is exceeded, the artist has the authority to end the agreement. The trio gave notice to end their contracts after taking note of these problems. 

Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen expressed their gratitude to the fans for giving them the confidence to speak out about injustice that they were not able to talk about in the past. The statement read, “Due to the difference in position with SM, we are inevitably pursuing legal action, but we will do our best to resolve the dispute by finding a wise way so that fans do not have to worry too much." The statement further read, "Those of us who want to speak out in a small voice about the injustice that we have not been able to talk about before are actually very scared and scared at this moment. We hope that you will pay attention to our words and our hard courage. Once again, we sincerely thank the fans who have supported us for a long time.”

SM Entertainment reacts

Post the news went viral, SM Entertainment released a statement that it discovered "some outside forces" are "committing illegal acts" by cajoling its artists to make wrong decisions to violate their terms with SM or contract out. They added, "We will take all necessary legal actions against these forces." This comes when EXO was gearing up for their group comeback, later this year. The band consists of 9 members including Suho, Xiumin, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O, Kai and Sehun. They debuted in 2012 under SM Entertainment. Kai is currently enlisted in the South Korean military. In addition to being a part of the K-Pop group EXO, the trio also have a sub-unit named EXO-CBX.