Court orders MLD Entertainment To Pay Ex-Momoland Member Daisy Unpaid Earnings Of 66K USD, MLD Files Appeal (Photo : Jessica1013/CC BY-SA 4.0/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
Daisy, the former member of K-pop girl group Momoland, has partially won her lawsuit against ex-agency MLD Entertainment.
On October 10, the Seoul Central District Court declared that MLD Entertainment shall have to pay Daisy (whose legal name is Yoo Jung Ahn) her unpaid earnings that totaled 79,260,000 KRW, as per insiders.
MLD Entertainment had debuted the all-girl South Korean group Momoland in July 2016 via the "Finding Momoland" audition, a survival program. During the show, Daisy was eliminated, however, she signed a label with the agency in September 2016 and joined the group in April 2017.
The agency then cut about 66 million KRW, which was the show's total production cost, and divided it among 10 contestants. MLD Entertainment also added that Daisy should be responsible for the survival show's production cost.
The agency was sued by Daisy because it was not fair to withhold part of her earnings for the cost, which the agency incurred before she signed the contract with MLD Entertainment.
The court was on daisy's side and stated that a contract is effective since the date it is signed unless otherwise specified. "The phrase 'pre-debut' on the contract refers to the phase from which the plaintiff signed the contract to the actual debut date", the court added.
The court said that there is no proof beyond reasonable doubt for assuming that this is the entertainment industry's customary practice. It ordered Daisy's former agency to pay the unpaid amount of 13 million KRW. The court, however, did not support Daisy's claim of an additional damage payment to the tune of 10 million KRW.
On the other hand, MLD Entertainment has filed an appeal against Daisy. An MLD Entertainment insider already foreshadowed another legal battle saying as far as they knew the appeal was in process.
MLD Entertainment, formerly known as Duble Kick Company, was founded in 2016. KBS broadcast an interview with Daisy on News 9 on January 7, 2020, where she claimed that "Finding Momoland" was rigged and MLD Entertainment had already decided to position her in the group, despite eliminating her, and the selected members had to pay for the cost of production. The agency denied Daisy's claims saying they were one-sided and asked KBS for an official apology.
MLD Entertainment removed Daisy's page and profile photo from the artist's page on their website, though the agency maintained that it remains under the company.
