You would be mistaken if you thought that SM Entertainment‘s legal battle with Tao has ended.
In case you haven’t heard, the Korean entertainment powerhouse announced yesterday that they won a Chinese lawsuit against the former EXO member for failing to repay the money he owed within the promised time.
In response to the announcement, Tao’s side released a statement through his workshop’s Weibo account, claiming that “the statement that SM Entertainment revealed on 5th January is untrue”.
The workshop said that they released the statement in an effort to “distinguish from right and wrong and to protect Tao’s honour”. They also included screenshots of emails as proof.
The full statement is as follows:
First, before Tao sought to nullify his exclusive contract with SM Entertainment in April 2015, both sides had been negotiating so SM providing temporary payments was a voluntary action.
Second, SM said, “However, despite clearly knowing the bank account number, he failed to pay back the temporary payments within the promised time.” They hid the truth with this statement. Tao has continuously kept a “contract-centered mind” and “principles of faith and trust.” Tao has tried to repay the temporary payments through a representative multiple times and requested a bank account number from SM and has not violated his contract nor any agreements. However, SM did not reply clearly and did not provide the correct bank account number to Tao’s representative. SM intentionally filed the lawsuit against the “delayed repayment” in order to buy time.
Third, SM used exaggerated words in their statement deliberately in order to sway public sentiment towards negative criticisms that harm Korea and China’s cultural exchanges.
“In order to block SM from distorting the truth, Tao’s workshop will submit evidence to dispute their statement. (Tao’s) workshop will take legal action against violations to Tao’s honour from all statements and reports in order to protect his rights and interests,” they added.
Take a look at the evidence provided below:
What are your thoughts on this never-ending lawsuit? Do you think that Tao’s workshop was wrongly accused? Let us know in the comments box below.
