Geffen Records has issued a formal apology in response to controversy over a social media post by one of its executives.
Earlier this week, a fan of BTS’s Jimin posted on
Tagging Geffen Records (BTS’s distributor in the United States), its parent company Universal Music Group, and Ray Kurzeka (SVP and Head of Streaming at Geffen), the fan wrote, “Where are the iTunes pre-orders for Jimin’s ‘Smeraldo Garden Marching Band’ coming out next week on June 28th? Also please provide an EU version without random inclusions to have a bigger impact on the UK album chart.”
Ray Kurzeka responded by adding a link to “us.” by Gracie Abrams with Taylor Swift and writing, “song of the year…”.
After fans expressed outrage at this response, which many saw as dismissive or even mocking, the phrase “GEFFEN APOLOGIZE TO JIMIN” began trending on X.
On June 27 local time, Geffen Records released the following statement:
An employee of our agency made a post on his personal social media account in response to a query from Jimin’s fans. This was done in error and in no way reflects the opinion of the employee or our company. Both he and the company deeply regret that this happened. The post does not comply with the company’s social media policy.
Our compliance team is addressing this directly with him and implementing enhanced controls across the company to ensure it never happens again. As we address this matter, we request that fans refrain from any personal attacks.
We wish to assure you that the scheduled release of Jimin’s second solo album, “MUSE,” will go ahead as planned without any impact.
Jimin’s pre-release single “’Smeraldo Garden Marching Band” (featuring Loco) will be available online on June 28 at 1 p.m. KST, three weeks before the release of his second solo album “MUSE” on July 19.
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