allkpop interviews with a Korean media outlet

Article: [Exclusive Interview] The full story behind Ailee's nude photos

Source: Asia Econ via Naver

Asia Econ's interview with Johnny Noh of allkpop.

1. How did this happen?

At the end of June, we received an offer in our tip box regarding nude pictures of singer Ailee. When we called him, we were able to find out that he was a foreigner living in Toronto, Canada. He asked for $3,500 for the pictures. We told him, "Leaking the photos will cause big problems later." He replied to us, "I'm scared of that as well. I'll stop here."

2. Did you contact YMC?

It was an important matter so we directly contacted a YMC staff member. They actually told us that we were making it up and when we asked why, they accused our staff member, Ailee's ex-boyfriend, of trying to sell the photos to Dispatch. They said that if this was to become a problem later, they'd take legal action so we were free to do whatever we wanted.

3. Did you check with her ex-boyfriend?

After we found out, we asked him and he denied it. He said he looked into the matter out of his own curiosity but that was it. He has nothing to do with this leak. We checked with him over a hundred times.

4. But the pictures were eventually uploaded on allkpop.

On the 10th, we received another tip in our tip box. When we researched the link, it was uploaded by someone from Toronto, Canada. The picture had already been uploaded in July and again in October. We decided that the pictures were already released to the world.

5. YMC claims that Ailee sent those photos to her ex-boyfriend for his help. There are suspicions that he is involved in this for business/monetary reasons.

That's an unfounded accusation. We've already discussed with him about the picture several times. The means in which the pictures were acquired is completely different. This scandal is putting us at a great loss as well. Our server was down because of the influx of page visits and our advertisements were cut off.

6. YMC has revealed that they will be taking legal action.

Since we are just as much negatively affected by this, we are discussing taking legal action as well. What's important, however, is that we are not the first to leak the photos. We are willing to cooperate with YMC if they want to find the first person to leak them.

7. In the end, it's Ailee who is the most negatively affected by this.

Personally, we are extremely apologetic. But since the pictures were already released online, we decided that the scandal would've exploded at some point in time anyway.

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1. [+976, -63] I don't get their logic about the pictures going to be known by the world anyway so might as well release... It's like saying a terminally ill person should just die first since they're going to die anyway.

2. [+752, -45] How can he think that just because the manner in which the pictures were obtained is different, it justifies them posting up the pictures?

3. [+424, -26] I really don't understand if allkpop released them or if they're denying it now

4. [+152, -11] Ailee's agency really went amateur on their way of handling the matter... If Dispatch and allkpop alerted them twice already about the pictures, they should've just bought the pictures for $3,500 and threw them out. Because they stalled for so long, they put their artist in jeopardy. How unfortunate.

5. [+162, -25] It doesn't matter, the victim in all of this is Ailee. The first person to release the pictures, the company for not looking into the matter, and the ex-boyfriend who traded his ex-girlfriend for money, and allkpop for justifying uploading the pictures since it's out anyway are all trash. Just all shut up!

6. [+98, -7] So that CEO guy is basically saying that the pictures were going to be a scandal anyway so might as well upload it on my site. What a jerk.

7. [+92, -8] In Korea, allkpop was the first to release them to the public.

8. [+76, -11] Basically, they knew it would become a scandal so they broke it first... but not for commercial reasons. They're sorry to Ailee but it was going to happen anyway...... So are they blaming Ailee? They shouldn't have reported it in the first place.

9. [+71, -7] Such amazing logic coming from him. It was going to be out anyway so they had the right to report itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

10. [+60, -3] A person will die someday anyway so I killed him (o). It was going to become a scandal anyway so I uploaded it for views and ad money(o).

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