South Korean label Cube Entertainment on Thursday announced that it removed soloist HyunA and Pentagon’s E’Dawn from its roster, ousting the pair after they previously confirmed they were dating in early August.
According to Cube, the decision was made in response to the pair publicly declaring their two-year-long relationship despite the company’s prior denial, ruining the relationship between artists and management.
“We decided the trust is broken and cannot be saved so we are kicking the two out of the company,” Cube said in a statement, the Korea Herald reports.
It is uncommon in South Korea for K-pop stars to go public with their relationships as it often negatively impacts their public image and careers. The couple, with Pentagon’s Hui, were in the middle of promoting their most recent Triple H album at the time, and both Triple H and Pentagon’s activities were affected after the dating news came out.
Kim HyunA is one of the K-pop scene’s most prominent female artists, and following Cube’s announcement, her name trended worldwide on Twitter. She started out her career as a member of Wonder Girls in 2007 before leaving the group that year, and eventually rose to prominence within 4Minute (2009-2016) and as a soloist in her own right through singles like “Ice Cream,” “Red,” and the recently released “Lip & Hip.” She gained global renown for an appearance in Psy’s “Gangnam Style” music video and released the duet, “Oppa Is Just My Style” with him.
Newer to the scene, E’Dawn (Kim Hyo-jung) started his career in Pentagon in 2016 and gained prominence as one of the group’s singer-songwriters; he co-wrote the boy band’s new single “Naughty Boy,” released earlier this week. He, HyunA, and Hui released their first Triple H EP 199X in 2017; it went to No. 10 on the World Albums chart upon its release. They returned earlier this year with Retro Futurism.
Update: Later in the day, Cube Entertainment backtracked and said HyunA and E’Dawn’s position at the company were still undergoing discussions.