Danielle taking part in briquette volunteer work. DC Inside capture
On the day Danielle, a member of the girl group NewJeans, received notice of termination of her exclusive contract from ADOR, she drew attention by taking part in coal briquette volunteer work.
On the 29th, Danielle joined singer Sean in the ‘Raise Korea's Temperature by 1 Degree’ briquette volunteer activity. Posts recounting that Danielle carried out volunteer work that day were uploaded to various online communities. A volunteer who left a post wrote, “For two hours, she worked really hard carrying briquettes and kept moving, and she was a dependable teammate,” and added, “(Regarding the fact of NewJeans' exclusive contract termination) she did not show it at all, so I did not know.”
They also mentioned Danielle's bright demeanor, saying, “After the volunteer work ended, she handed out cookies and chocolates and smiled as she accepted all photo·autograph requests.” As ADOR officially announced Danielle's termination of her exclusive contract that day, even more attention focused on her public move.
ADOR expelled NewJeans member Danielle (center). Courtesy of ADOR
ADOR stated that “having determined it would be difficult to continue together with Danielle as a NewJeans member and as an ADOR artist, we notified her today of the termination of her exclusive contract.” It went on to say regarding the dispute over the exclusive contract, “We plan to hold one of Danielle's family members and former CEO Min Hee-jin legally accountable, as we have judged that they bear significant responsibility for causing this dispute and for the departure from NewJeans and the delay in returning.”
ADOR also announced that member Hanni is returning and disclosed that it is in talks with Minji. With Hyein and Haerin having previously joined ADOR first, following Hanni's return that day and with Minji also likely to join, the possibility grew that NewJeans would be reorganized as a four-member group.
Meanwhile, after news of Danielle's expulsion, NewJeans' fandom ‘Bunnies’ mounted a collective backlash against HYBE and ADOR, calling it a “malicious abuse of power intended to deliberately dismantle NewJeans.”
