Former I.O.I and PRISTIN member, Zhou Jieqiong (周洁琼), has been developing her career successfully in her native China for the last two years. Even though her group, Pristin, disbanded last year, it was reported Zhou Jieqiong renewed her contract with PLEDIS Entertainment. However, there were reports from Korean media today that PLEDIS Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Zhou Jieqiong for “unilateral contract termination, not answering company employee’s phone calls, and continuing to proceed with events that is a breach of contract.”
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According to PLEDIS Entertainment, they are suing Zhou Jieqiong for “unilaterally and suddenly sending a baseless contract termination notice through mail and SNS and even avoiding contact with employees from PLEDIS Entertainment and the Chinese management company.” Their suit also claims by ignoring PLEDIS, she accepted work to film dramas, variety shows, endorsements, etc. that were in violation of the contract’s stipulations on entertainment industry work. Because of this, PLEDIS says they had no choice but to go through legal channels to confirm the validity of their contract with Zhou Jieqiong.
Shortly after the news broke, Zhou Jieqiong’s Chinese management company, Xing Can Sheng Shi Entertainment (星灿盛世), also known as PLEDIS China, stated they were shocked to receive the notice from her. They claim the day they received the termination notice, they were still in the midst of discussing and closing a deal with a third party for her participation in a entertainment project. They also expressed Zhou Jieqiong didn’t consider the sacrifices and investments PLEDIS made to cultivate her. They are requiring Zhou Jieqiong to continue carrying out the terms of their contract.
Zhou Jieqiong responded to the claims made by both companies and said, “Due to the numerous serious problems during our collaboration and after careful consideration of the career developments, I, Zhou Jieqiong, formally reached out to a lawyer on September 10, 2019 to propose to both PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT CO, LTD and XCSS Entertainment to terminate the artist and management contract according to what’s written in the notice. I wanted both parties to resolve it according to the law by ourselves and don’t wish my personal situations to disturb everyone, but since it has already happened, I’ll face it and resolve it.
I don’t want to argue about who’s right or wrong anymore. The only thing I can do is to seriously work hard for every job, work hard to improve myself, and present even better works to everyone, not letting down those who love and trust me. Thankful to the company for taking care of me in the past. Hope each one of us will be even better in the future.”
