Despite bagging 2 daesangs at the MAMA Awards 2023, K-pop fans still wonder why NewJeans didn't attend the ceremony. Rumors then began swirling that ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin "boycotted" the event. For what reason?

YouTuber Reveals Reason NewJeans Didn't Attend MAMA Awards 2023

On November 28-29, the annual MAMA Awards was held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan to acknowledge the achievements of K-pop idols in 2023.

The two-day event was participated by a star-studded lineup of artists. Sadly, NewJeans didn't attend the ceremony.

The quintet won two daesangs (grand prize): "Song of the Year" and "Artist of the Year"; thus, fans immediately wondered why they didn't go, let alone send their speech through a pre-recorded video. 

ALSO READ: MAMA Awards Winners 2023 (Day 2): SEVENTEEN, NewJeans, BTS Take Home Daesang

On November 30, the former reporter-turned-YouTube insider Lee Jinho, spilled the tea on why NewJeans didn't attend the MAMA Awards 2023.

According to him, ADOR's CEO Min Hee Jin, who watched the "mistreatment" of NewJeans from MAMA in the past year, was very heartbroken, so she decided to boycott the event.

In particular, the whole "drama" started when NewJeans performed at the MAMA Awards 2022 held in Osaka.

At the time, the group was a sizzling topic and took the stage to perform their hits, and did everything they could to level up the status of the event.

Despite that, NewJeans failed to take home the "Rookie of the Year" and lost to IVE. There is not much commotion about the result since the latter also performed outstandingly last year, due to their hit, "LOVE DIVE."

But what upset people was that NewJeans didn't win any awards or nominations other than the "Rookie of the Year."

Explaining this, Lee Jinho said:

"The singers' team that won the 'Favorite New Artist' award last year were IVE, NMIXX, LE SSERAFIM, and Kep1er. This award was a special award established last year. Only rookies could receive it. But conditions were attached to this award. During the selection period, cumulative album sales had to exceed 1 million copies. That's why NewJeans naturally didn't even get nominated."

However, this is "unfair" to the group since they could only release one album that earned 440k album sales after debuting in July 2022.

Without being nominated, the group flew to Japan to perform for the event.

YouTuber Reveals Min Hee Jin 'Boycotted' MAMA Awards

Lee Jinho then emphasized the last straw that made Min Hee Jin allegedly boycott not only MAMA but also Mnet.

"There is one more thing humiliation. NewJeans' performance on the MAMA stage last year was due to CEO Min Hee Jin winning the "Breakout Producer." During the process, NewJeans members stood on stage as a proxy to receive the award."

He added:

"It was said that CEO Min Hee Jin, who watched the entire process, was very heartbroken."

Since then, NewJeans has appeared on all music broadcasts but "M Countdown" music show.

READ MORE: NewJeans' AOTY Win At 2023 MAMA Awards Has the Whole K-pop Community Screaming 'Well-Deserved!'

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Written by Eunice Dawson.