GFriend is one of the popular third-gen girl groups and they made their debut back in 2015. The group had a successful journey from their initial years as they won many awards. They were also the first girl group to be nominated at MTV Europe Music Awards.
The K-Pop group had a lot of other firsts too as they were the first girl group to be interviewed by the Grammys. However, they were disbanded by Hybe, do you know why? GFriend was under Source Music which was then taken over by Hybe Labels. The group had to disband back in May 2021.
Fans were not pleased since the group was doing very well and there was no reason for the sudden disbandment. However, after diving deeper into it, Buddys found out that Hybe was trying to trademark the girl group’s name. This would mean that the group cannot get back together to promote as GFriend in the future. They can do that only under Hybe Labels.
Fans thought this was the fault of Hybe for deliberately sabotaging GFriend. It can be a possibility that the revenue Hybe got from GFriend can now be used to fund the new girl group. They are said to debut under Source Music and Buddys find this unfair. The situation seems similar to the BEAST boy group who were under Cube.
The boy band had to change their name to Highlight and start from scratch after Cube trademarked BEAST. Now fanbases have come together to protest in the hopes that Hybe’s request will be rejected as the alleged trademark application is in process. The fans of GFriend have found that the trademark process started two months before the group actually disbanded.
Fans Rage Over Twitter As They Ask For Justice
This shows that Hybe must have had an ulterior motive behind this sudden action. However, since GFriend members might not have been on the same page with regards to disbandment, they could be back together. But the trademark hitch can also stop them. These are just allegations, none of this has proven to be true yet.
But fans are angry and have expressed their rage; as they made hashtag #JusticeForGFriend trend and #GFriend_Deserves_Better has also started trending. A fan expressed, “I hope all of you, fandoms from Hybe groups, read about the Gfriend case, what Hybe did is serious and one day it could happen to anyone else.”
Buddys have made their efforts to circulate the thread which explains why the trademark is an issue. Fans are voicing out as they say K-Pop band, GFriend deserves better.
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