Fifty Fifty's producer says he did not try to steal girl group's members

Fifty Fifty's producer denied all allegations made by the girl group's agency Attrakt that he attempted to steal the girl group members from the company. The Givers, the production company run by Ahn Sung-il, said Thursday that it did not try ...

Girl group Fifty Fifty during a press conference in southern Seoul’s Gangnam District on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Fifty Fifty's producer denied all allegations made by the girl group's agency Attrakt that he attempted to steal the girl group members from the company.

The Givers, the production company run by Ahn Sung-il, said Thursday that it did not try to snatch Fifty Fifty members in a statement released through Yoon & Yang LLC, refuting allegations that have been made by Attrakt since last week.

Attrakt claimed that Ahn tried to sabotage the company's relations with Fifty Fifty by deleting related data and taking the copyright to the girl group's hit song "Cupid" without informing the agency.

"From the time of Attrakt's establishment to now, we have been diligently following the terms of the contract that we signed as the outside production company," the statement said.

"We have also been trying our best to bridge the gap between the members of Fifty Fifty and Attrakt, even on the day when Attrakt received the papers from Fifty Fifty members demanding their contracts be terminated."

The quartet filed an injunction to suspend their exclusive contracts with Attrakt on June 19, citing that the company forced them to work through worsening health conditions and "unclear" payment issues.

"We began our project in June 2021 after being requested by Attrakt CEO Jeon Hong-jun and successfully debuted girl group Fifty Fifty, achieving unprecedented feats thereafter," the production said. "We transferred all planning, producing and operating data to Attrakt as of May 31, 2023, and ended the contract. We are currently only in charge of global promotion and public relations with Warner Records as requested by Attrakt."

The copyright to "Cupid" was also taken legally, The Givers said.

"The song 'Cupid' was owned by our company even before the whole Fifty Fifty project began," it said. "It was only used as Fifty Fifty's song later."

"To counteract the false accusations and the continued spreading of false information through media by CEO Jeon Hong-jun and Attrakt, the company appointed Yoon & Yang LLC, and plans on taking strong legal countermeasures against it."

Attrakt sued The Givers on Tuesday for "delaying the handover of its data, deleting the company mail account and other data regarding the project," and "taking the copyright ownership of 'Cupid' without informing the agency."

The Givers is a content management company that manages intellectual property in addition to producing albums and managing groups. The company is an external vendor contracted by Attrakt to do production work for and manage the girl group.

Ahn is also known by his pen name SIAHN which he uses for making music.

Fifty Fifty debuted in 2022 under Attrakt, a newly-opened agency at the time. "Cupid," the group's latest EP released on Feb. 24, has garnered global popularity, landing on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for 14 weeks in a row — a record for a K-pop girl group.

The girl group is currently taking a break after one of its members, Aran, underwent surgery in May.

To find out more about Fifty Fifty, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]