BIGBANG's Seungri Retires; YG Entertainment Says It Was The Singer's Own Decision
BIGBANG member Seungri has announced his retirement amidst the series of scandals that he allegedly involved into. However, BIGBANG's label, YG Entertainment, revealed that Seungri did not consult the company when he decided to depart the industry.
A day after the police booked Seungri as a suspect on the ongoing investigation regarding soliciting escort services for foreign investors, the K-pop idol released a statement via his Instagram account. In the statement, Seungri announced his retirement from the entertainment industry.
The "1, 2, 3!" hitmaker also apologized for causing harm to his loved ones. Seungri said he decided to retire as the controversies that involve his names have become huge already. He also vowed to cooperate in the police investigation to reveal the truth.
"I sincerely thank all of the fans in and outside of Korea who have given me lots of love for the past 10 years. I think this is where I stop even if it's at least [to protect] the honor of YG and BIGBANG. Again, I am sorry and apologize once again," Seungri said at the end of his IG post.
YG Entertainment revealed that the retirement decision was made by Seungri on his own and did not consult the company about it. Korean publication YTN quoted a source from YG (via Soompi) as saying that the recent incidents have been causing distress to Seungri especially so that all of it happened before his enlistment. The singer is set to enlist on March 25.
The source added that YG has yet to decide whether or not to terminate Seungri's exclusive contract. Aside from the Burning Sun scandal, Seungri has been recently accused of providing sexual escort services to foreign investors. Moreover, he is also under investigation on suspicion of illegally sharing footage and photos in a chatroom with his colleagues.
Meanwhile, there are also reports that YG actually kicked out Seungri and the singer did not voluntarily retire. The speculation stemmed from an Instagram Story that was posted by a songwriter under YG Entertainment's sub-label, THE BLACK LABEL.
The songwriter, who uses the name YGM on IG, shared a screenshot of a comment claiming that Seungri told the public that he voluntarily decided to depart the industry when in fact, he was actually kicked out by YG. YGM simply commented, "Real" to the screenshot but it sparked doubts on Seungri's retirement. The YG's songwriter already deleted his Instagram account just a few hours after the post.