#icymi
OCTOBER:
1- The FIFTY FIFTY controversy began to wrap up during the final few months of the year. The group members released a series of statements on the 14th of October. We discovered that FIFTY FIFTY member Aran's health concerns were more severe than we first thought. The idol revealed that during the beginning of the year, she had contracted chronic cholangitis with polyps — which had the possibility of developing into cancer if left untreated — and further detailed that ATTRAKT had blocked her from receiving treatment up until April 2023. Then in another statement, Sio shared that she had undergone a strict dieting regime that had caused the idol to develop kidney-related health issues. Then in mid-October, it was shared that Keena — who is FIFTY FIFTY's eldest member and the member to train the longest at ATTRAKT — had officially withdrawn her case against ATTRAKT and its CEO after sharing that she had been grossly misled by their producer Sihan. The remaining three FIFTY FIFTY members remain in a legal battle against the agency and have since had their exclusive contracts terminated by the company. As of the time of writing, the three remaining members have lost their appeal in the Seoul High Court. ATTRAKT has shared their plans to continue FIFTY FIFTY around Keena through the addition of three new members. The company is also pursuing a legal case against the three former FIFTY FIFTY members for damages.

2- While the year begins to wind down, we also had a few announcements related to the upcoming End Of Year awards shows. The Melon Music Awards announced that they will be holding their ceremony on the 2nd of December at Inspire Arena, South Korea. While the M-net Asian Music Awards were held on the 28th & 29th of November at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, and the Golden Disk Awards will be held on the 6th of January in Jakarta. Meanwhile, MBC has shared that they have officially reconciled their differences against HYBE and their artists following the fallout from BTS' decision to forgo attending the annual MBC Gayo festival in 2019 in favour of attending and performing at New Year's Rockin' Eve in the U.S. This announcement has paved the way to allow not just BTS, but other HYBE artists to once again promote on MBC produced programs such as the end-of-year gayos.