Former EXO member Tao aka Huang Zitao recently revealed some shocking details about his training period with South Korean record label SM Entertainment. The statement came in response to a lawsuit filed by the company at a Beijing court on 18 September.
While explaining the reason behind him terminating his contract with the entertainment agency, the Chinese entertainer said that the firm is making false accusations against him to mislead the public.
Through a statement released by his agency, Huang Z TAO Studio, the 23-year-old singer revealed that the record label exploited basic human rights and indulged in unfair treatment of people working with it.
"SM delayed Tao's treatments of injuries that he sustained during his celebrity activities due to a lack of basic protection of his livelihood. In addition, SM also had many problems, discriminating between their Korean and Chinese celebrities," read the statement (via Allkpop).
Explaining further, the agency stated that even after going through severe mental and physical stress, the Chinese entertainer and his father tried to negotiate with the record label more than eight times. But, the firm denied their request to modify the contract and "brought up extreme measures of solutions".
"It becomes most clear from SM's insincere attitude towards resolving their conflict that Tao had not been respected, Due to this, Tao filed his contract nullification lawsuit at the Seoul Central Court on August 24, 2015. Tao filed the lawsuit without much choice, no longer able to endure the issues mentioned above," added the statement.
The agency even stated that SM Entertainment is trying to ruin the "celebrity life" of Tao by claiming the contract dispute will have a negative impact on the cultural exchange between China and Korea. "From here on, the studio will take legal action through our lawyer against whatever announcement or reports that may infringe on Tao's reputation to protect our legal rights," revealed the representative.
