The underlying issue that most media outlets seem to be ignoring in stories about EXO and their fights with SM Entertainment, is that Kris, Luhan and even Tao's departures from EXO are possibly due to allegedly discriminatory practices by SM Entertainment, the band's management team and record company, towards its Chinese members. All three former EXO members have expressed an alleged hardship brought on by SM, due entirely to their Chinese ethnicity.
In response to a lawsuit filed against him by SM, Kris released a strongly worded statement condemning the handling of the Chinese members of EXO. Kris sought to explain the reasons for his departure. Via KPopStarz, "From July 2013, Kris worked while taking medication and in January of 2014 was diagnosed with myocarditis in China. Still, SM did not look after Kris' heath. In addition to this, the unfair income distribution and lack of room for Kris to develop and grow as an artist caused him to lose confidence in SM Entertainment's management."
Kris's tale isn't unique. Compatriot and former EXO colleague Luhan has also complained about SM's treatment of the Chinese contingent of EXO. EXO is two bands essentially, EXO-K and EXO-M. EXO-K records songs in Korean and is marketed in South Korea. M records the same material in Mandarin and is marketed in China. Hollywood Take published an excerpt of Luhan's affidavit, part of the documents from a lawsuit filed by Luhan, "SM treated EXO-K, filled with Korean members, differently from how they treated the EXO-M members with Chinese members. From the beginning of our debut, EXO-K received support from SM and actively did promotions, but EXO-M had no promotions, received no financial backing, and endured a difficult time."
Tao's fight with SM is much the same as Kris and Luhan's. His criticisms of SM are much the same, as are his frustrations.
However, before we accept the former EXO-M member's word as the whole story, we must look at an interesting breakdown done in an article done by Alexis Hodoyan-Gastekun for the website Kultscene.In the article, the author Hodoyan-Gastekan said, "EXO-K solo member's activities far outnumbered their Chinese members because, as I said before, they were the ones geared to promote in Korea, not EXO-M. SM Entertainment has more leverage within Korea, so it makes sense that EXO-K had better accessibility to activities."
She goes on to chart and breakdown the various activities of both the Korean and Chinese members. This is a much more in-depth look at SM Entertainment activities than we have had in the past and an interesting take on the fight between former EXO-M members and SM Entertainment.
