On August 19th, SBS's current issue program 'Unanswered Questions' aired with much attention as it was noted earlier that the show would delve into the FIFTY FIFTY controversy and the entertainment agency operation structure. However, many Korean viewers thought the show did nothing to clarify the situation.
The episode started with interviews from both ATTRAKT and The Givers. However, the interviews did not add anything to the currently available information regarding ongoing conflicts between the two sides. The show did not go into details on why the members filed trademarks on their own or why The Givers' CEO Ahn Sung Il lied about his education and work experience. Instead, the director of The Givers commented that he cannot represent the official stance of the company because whatever he says will be twisted. Initially, CEO Ahn Sung Il was supposed to be interviewed by the show but he declined due to his health issues.
The episode also raised new allegations regarding ATTRAKT's mistreatment of the FIFTY FIFTY members, including daily BMI checks and unpaid royalties from the international streaming platforms. Again, however, there was no in-depth analysis of whether these allegations were toxic industry standards or ATTRAKT's standalone mistreatment. For instance, when they were calculating estimated royalties from various streaming platforms, they did not consider different payout dates and methods depending on the platform and countries. So it was unclear if ATTRAKT actually collected those funds and kept them in its own pocket rather than distributing them to the members. Further, the show left out other activities such as events, commercials, and brand deals to calculate the earnings and costs.
The phone call recordings revealed by 'Dispatch' and other media sources were also not addressed in the episode. The only new information included in the show was the original demo version of "Cupid" by Swedish producers and that the final version had only three different words from the demo version.
Many Korean viewers thought the show was indistinguishable from the tea/gossip YouTubers as it only raised more unwarranted allegations and gave the impression of having a set narrative, instead of being impartial as a journalism program. Following the show, the viewers' board of the show was down for hours due to viewers flooding in to leave complaints online. However, many international netizens criticized ATTRAKT following the broadcast, showing drastically different reactions.
The episode started with interviews from both ATTRAKT and The Givers. However, the interviews did not add anything to the currently available information regarding ongoing conflicts between the two sides. The show did not go into details on why the members filed trademarks on their own or why The Givers' CEO Ahn Sung Il lied about his education and work experience. Instead, the director of The Givers commented that he cannot represent the official stance of the company because whatever he says will be twisted. Initially, CEO Ahn Sung Il was supposed to be interviewed by the show but he declined due to his health issues.
The episode also raised new allegations regarding ATTRAKT's mistreatment of the FIFTY FIFTY members, including daily BMI checks and unpaid royalties from the international streaming platforms. Again, however, there was no in-depth analysis of whether these allegations were toxic industry standards or ATTRAKT's standalone mistreatment. For instance, when they were calculating estimated royalties from various streaming platforms, they did not consider different payout dates and methods depending on the platform and countries. So it was unclear if ATTRAKT actually collected those funds and kept them in its own pocket rather than distributing them to the members. Further, the show left out other activities such as events, commercials, and brand deals to calculate the earnings and costs.
The phone call recordings revealed by 'Dispatch' and other media sources were also not addressed in the episode. The only new information included in the show was the original demo version of "Cupid" by Swedish producers and that the final version had only three different words from the demo version.
Many Korean viewers thought the show was indistinguishable from the tea/gossip YouTubers as it only raised more unwarranted allegations and gave the impression of having a set narrative, instead of being impartial as a journalism program. Following the show, the viewers' board of the show was down for hours due to viewers flooding in to leave complaints online. However, many international netizens criticized ATTRAKT following the broadcast, showing drastically different reactions.
