SM Entertainment Denies Reports Of EXO Collaborating With Controversial Furniture Company + SM Town Live 2019 Artist Lineup

by Jessica Rapir / Apr 25, 2019 03:33 AM EDT

EXO is not collaborating with the controversial company, Hanssem Effex. SM Entertainment has released a statement following reports that its K-pop male group is working on a project with the furniture company.

The reports indicated that EXO and Hanssem Effex will be launching a furniture collaboration. Hanssem Effex was previously criticized for poor management of a sexual assault case in the company.

A female employee shared her story online that she was sexually assaulted by some male executives of the company. She claimed that she reported the incident to the police and also met with Hanssem Effex's human resources. However, she was forced to change her statement and told to keep quiet. The woman called out Hanssem for not taking proper action on her complaint.

As soon as the rumor spreads, EXO fans began trending on Twitter a hashtag that calls for SM Entertainment to cancel the collaboration and boycott Hanssem. SM responded on the report and denied that EXO is doing a project with the furniture company.

"We have not signed a contract with Hanssem Effex and have no plans to do so in the future," SM said.

Meanwhile, SM Entertainment has dropped the dates for its upcoming SM Town Live 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. According to the Japanese website of SM Town, the event will return to Tokyo Dome for the first time in two years on August 3 to 5. The company also released an initial list of its artists that will perform in the SM Town Live 2019.

The lineup includes TVXQ, Super Junior, EXO, Red Velvet, BoA, Girls' Generation members Taeyeon, Yuri, and Hyoyeon, SHINee's Taemin, NCT 127, NCT Dream, f (x), Kangta, and J-min. Ticketing details are expected to be announced in the coming days.

This could be the first event that EXO will perform on stage without Xiumin who is set to start his military service on May 7. Prior to his enlistment, Xiumin is slated to hold a fan meeting on May 4. The event, titled Xiuweet Time, will be held at the Jamsil Indoor Arena in Seoul. Tickets for the fan meeting are already available on Yes24.

Xiumin along with his fellow EXO-CBX members Chen and Baekhyun are also set to wrap their MAGICAL CIRCUS-Special Edition concert in Japan later this month. Their last stop will be in Kobe, Japan for a three-night performance on April 27 through 29.