Okay, this is really late and I wasn't even going to post it anymore but, in light of the most recent soompi article, I decided to post this on tumblr too.
TS (because, yes, I believe it's TS' claims and not the other 8 members' parents claiming this bs) is claiming that the evidence that was put forth by Wooyeop, Taeseon, and their parents was faked.
As you can watch from this news report with audio footage from the meeting the TRCNG members and their parents had together with the director of TS Ent., Park Sanghyun. In this video, you can clearly hear the TRCNG members voicing out their concers about their living conditions as well as the incident with the head of the choreo team hitting Wooyeop with the steel chair. Now, personally, I don't see how they could have faked these recordings.
Anyway, onto the translation of the video:
Narrator: Last month, the TRCNG members and their parents met with Director A in order to discuss terminating their contract. This discussion started with their delicate situation and ended with the abuse.
TRCNG Member: We always ask our manager every day, “We’re sorry (to ask), but why aren’t we allowed to eat?” And when we ask,
Taeseon: We always get told that they haven’t received the funds yet.
TRCNG Member: There were also days where our electricity wouldn’t work so we had to practice with the flash(light from our phones) turned on.
Wooyeop: We already knew that the company’s situation wasn’t good through news articles and from what the company had told us.
Director A: I wish you wouldn’t talk about the news article. Hey, then, if I trusted the article – Wooyeop, (I’m talking to you) – if I believed what the journalist said, you wouldn’t be able to promote. You wouldn’t look good to me.
Narrator: Director A said that he didn’t know about the situation they were in. What’s clear is that he didn’t properly listen to what the members had to say. Not only that, TRCNG had a long hiatus of 1 year and 7 months after their first comeback. Along with that, they still had to practice even whilst promoting.
TRCNG Member: It’s been over 2 years since we debuted but the way we’ve been promoted was really insufficient, in my opinion.
Director A: If you’re gonna be like that, you should have just gone to SM.
TRCNG Member: I think it kind of broke my trust when the CD (album) hadn’t been released yet.* Then when the asian tour and the Japanese promotions were cancelled, I really lost the trust I had.
Director A: But what you guys got wrong was that, while you might not have wanted to do it, I also might not have wanted to do it.
Narrator: But what’s more severe than that is the abuse.
Wooyeop’s father: You guys, you were there when Wooyeop got beaten, right?
TRCNG Member: The head choreographer threw a chair and so it hit him.
Wooyeop’s father: And what about his throat?
TRCNG Member: He grabbed Wooyeop and shoved him onto the wall.
TRCNG Member: In Wooyeop’s position, he didn’t receive an apology, right? He must have felt it was so unfair and had a hard time. He was really hurt to the point of near-death.
TRCNG Member: Because of that, we’re in such a bad situation right now…
Narrator: Right now, the situation is that TS has decided that TRCNG will continue as an 8 membered group without Taeseon and Wooyeop. But this is the fact according to the law: another similar case has happened before with The Eastlight members all being victims of abuse and, in the end, it resulted in their disbandment. Sadly, it’s not only these two groups, but there are a lot of idol trainees who are under contract in order to achieve their dreams of debuting that are unable to gain popularity and just end up disappearing.
Kim Seongsu (pop culture critic): There is a definite weakness of being part of the entertainment industry, especially for newer entertainers. Because of that, even if a person is being abused and treated unfairly, all they can do is to keep going.
Narrator: So that there will be no more victims, there should be a system that reviews the entertainment industry.
*T/N: He’s talking about when TRCNG’s Rising album release was delayed, I presume.
Translated by @hohyeon-anti.
Please do not take without credit.
