Perhaps there can be good things which come out of bad situations. Even in the world of K-Pop.
After Ailee’s nude photos were leaked online and dispersed by allkpop, many automatically thought that her career was in danger (honestly, including me). Then her company, YMC Entertainment, released a long and detailed statement which indicated that Ailee had been conned into providing the pictures to a fake modeling agency and that her ex-boyfriend Daniel Lee (who works at allkpop) was responsible for shopping the photos to various news agencies and for leaking the news to allkpop. Dispatch came forward and said that someone identifying themselves as Ailee’s ex had come to them in the past and tried to sell the photos to the media agency, which Dispatch turned down due to legal reasons. Allkpop denied all the charges and said that Daniel Lee was definitely not the source of the leak.
Now, the ex-boyfriend who worked at allkpop has essentially admitted to shopping the photos to Dispatch previously but still swears that he is not the source of the leak. Per M Wave:
After the rep confirmed that the ex-boyfriend in the Dispatch call was working at Allkpop, One Night of TV Entertainment was able to directly speak with Ailee’s ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend agreed to the phone call, hoping to reveal the truth about the situation.
“We received an email first. Because we had a tip from people with that kind of goal in mind, I just really wanted to see if it was possible [to sell pictures] and I innocently asked. I had no other intention.”
The ex-boyfriend, however, insisted that he did not leak the photos.
He also claimed that he has never heard about the story that YMC Entertainment told in its official statement regarding the matter. He said he didn’t know he received any such pictures in the way described.
After saying he hasn’t talked to Ailee after the scandal broke out, the ex-boyfriend stated, “All I can say is I’m sorry. A misunderstanding happened and I can only say sorry about it. But what I want to say is that I did not leak the photos.”
The problem? He didn’t ask so innocently. Dispatch had audio. Here is the translation thanks to Soompi:
Ex-boyfriend: I have several photos.
Dispatch: What kind of photos?
E: I have photos of singer Ailee. I want to know if Dispatch is interested or not.
D: What kind of photos?
E: Totally exposed photos.
D: What kind of ‘totally exposed’ photos are you talking about?
E: She’s not wearing anything, from the front to back.
D: You’re saying you have nude photos?
E: Yes, her face and everything shows.
D: Where did you get the photos? What are the origins?
E: I think it will be difficult to tell you personally.
D: I need to know that to tell you if we can report it or not. We can’t report it if you just tell us that they’re exposed photos.
E: I received them.
D: Who did you receive it from?
E: Singer Aillee.
D: Singer Ailee gave you the photos?
E: Yes.
D: Why?
E: It may be hard to believe, but that is the situation.
D: You have to explain this to us for us to make a decision.
E: I was her boyfriend.
D: Excuse me?
E: I was her boyfriend.
D: So you received naked photos from her?
E: Naked…what does that mean? I can’t speak Korean well.
D: Ah, are you in Korea right now?
E: No.
D: Are you overseas?
E: Yes.
D: So you received the nude photos through Kakao Talk or a messenger?
E: Yes.
D: And you want to release them?
E: Hm, yes, I suppose so.
D: Just so you know, there might be legal troubles for you if you exchange the photos for money.
E: Oh, really?
D: Of course. Because they are private photos, if you were to disclose it to the press… because it’s not news.
E: Ah… I see. Your saying something different than XXXX (other media company). I understand. I will contact XXXX.
D: Yes, you can give to XXXX. That doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you are dealing with something dangerous.
E: Why? It’s not illegal.
D: Yes, it is illegal.
E: It’s not illegal in the U.S.
D: If Ailee’s people decide to take legal action because this is an invasion of privacy since they are private photos, it is something she can take to court.
If we were to take the photos, buy them from you, it would be a big deal, but it would be very dangerous for you. This is something you should think about. This is how it’s done in Korea.
If you recall the incident with XXX (celebrity), and other celebrity incidents, the people involved were all arrested and sued.It doesn’t matter who you give it to. You don’t have to give it to us. It doesn’t matter whom you sell it to.
The important thing is what you want to do is very dangerous and wrong. I don’t know if something bad happened to you, but this seems like the wrong way to go at it. If you sell those photos, you will be in trouble. Please think about it carefully.
E: Okay.
So, there’s that. This is a huge blow to allkpop’s credibility in their initial statement, which was unequivocal that no allkpop employee was involved in the scandal in any way whatsoever. It also opens up the door for YMC Entertainment to take legal action against Daniel Lee and gives them further incentive to call for investigations into allkpop.
So far, YMC Entertainment is winning the legal and investigative game by far.
And as for Ailee? The girl is winning over everyone, Koreans, netizens and celebrities alike.
Ailee went ahead and performed at the Melon Music Awards as planned, and she killed it.
She came:
She conquered:
As Asian Junkie succinctly put it:
Yeah, so this backs up the recent netizen and celebrity reaction on the Internet to her scandal, which has shown her overwhelming support. Perhaps most importantly, her celebrity peers made it a point to have her back.
Warms my cold, cold heart.
Everything is working out great for Ailee and allkpop is in some deep shit. Couldn’t have happened to more deserving people.
Yellow Slug Reviews 
I’m glad fans didn’t react negatively towards her, i really had feared the worst. Thankfully her fans are backing her up, it would have been a shame to lose someone with so much talent.
This is a great summary of everything that has happened over the past few days. Thanks for putting it together! I’m so glad that everything is working out in Aliee’s favor. Her speech at the award ceremony almost made me want to cry too!
I hope Ailee and YMC sue them and AKP burns to the ground.
AKP will probably weather this storm, but this is a huge hit to their reputation. The traffic hit may be negligible, but they will have to work extremely hard to get back on the good side of celebrities who will look at them much more skeptically than before.
Called it.
And I cried like a baby when I watched her (live) almost break down when she came up to accept her award. Well, I welled up a bit. Which for me is pretty rare.
Anyway, good for her and good on the fans for not being total dicks about the whole sordid affair.
I got a lump in the ol’ throat before I punched myself for having emotions. It was a goose bump worthy moment for sure and it was so great to see everyone rally around Ailee.