The internet woke up to a different storm Thursday morning following an announcement from Cube Entertainment expelling pop stars HyunA and Pentagon’s E’Dawn from the agency after the couple confirmed they were in a relationship last August.

On September 13, Cube Entertainment released an official statement through the portal Naver saying, “Cube Entertainment has decided to remove HyunA and E’Dawn [from the company]. When managing our artists, the company has worked with faith and trust in each other as the main priority. After much discussion, the judgment was made that it is not possible to recover the faith with the two artists HyunA and E’Dawn, so their removal has been decided.”

It is reported that the pop stars learned of their removal from the agency through the media.

Split

Twitter exploded with reactions immediately after the announcement, with HyunA, Cube, and Pentagon trending worldwide for most of the day.

Korean and international fans expressed generally opposed opinions. Korean netizens mostly agreed with the agency’s decision to remove the artists from their roster based on breach of trust, while international fans took the couple’s defense, outraged over the idea that the couple was being punished for openly expressing their romance.

Local fans also voiced their opinion online.

Conflicting statements

Within hours of the initial statement, however, the agency released another bulletin reversing the decision, saying, “HyunA and E’Dawn’s removal was being discussed and it has not yet been confirmed. We will need to discuss the matter further.”

“This matter must be dealt with carefully after a thorough review of opinions as the views of the artists in question are also very important. Their removal is not yet a final decision. The agency officials are currently in urgent discussions. We plan to do our best to incorporate the artists’ views before making the final decision. – Cube Entertainment”–CONTRIBUTED

*Sources: All Kpop, Koreaboo, Soompi