Former LOONA member Chuu has shared her first public statement since her firing by the group’s agency Blockberry Creative last week.
Sharing the statement on her Instagram story last night (November 29), Chuu began her message by thanking fans for their “concern and comfort”, and placing their trust in her.
She continued: “As I have not received any contact regarding this series of situations or know anything about them, I’m currently grasping the situation, but what I’m sure of is that I haven’t done anything that would be shameful to my fans.”
“In the future, as my position is decided, I will share another statement. Thank you so much for your concern and for trusting in me,” Chuu concluded, according to a translation by Soompi.
The idol was removed as a member of LOONA last week (November 25) by Blockberry Creative, with the group’s agency alleging Chuu’s “violent language and misuse of power toward our staff” led to her “expulsion” from the group. The decision was met by backlash and skepticism online, by both fans and some industry professionals who had previously worked with the idol and the group as a whole.
Chuu was absent from much of the group’s activities in 2022, including their ‘LOONATHEWORLD’ tour that kicked off in August. According to a Wikitree report earlier this March, Chuu had also filed a lawsuit against Blockberry Creative to suspend her contract – a legal battle she ‘partially’ won, according to a Korea JoongAng Daily report last week.
11 members currently remain in LOONA. A report by news outlet JTBC yesterday claimed that nine of them – HeeJin, HaSeul, YeoJin, Kim Lip, JinSoul, Choerry, Yves, Gowon and Olivia Hye – have filed injunctions following Chuu’s firing to suspend their contracts with Blockberry Creative. Blockberry Creative denied this report, calling the claims “groundless”.
Chuu made her debut in 2017 as a founding member of LOONA, and released her self-titled single album in December that year. She was also a member of the group’s sub-unit LOONA / yyxy, alongside members Yves, Go Won, and Olivia Hye, with which she dropped the 2018 mini-album ‘beauty&thebeat’.