Chuu kicked out from Loona — report

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 26) — Singer and TV personality Chuu was expelled Friday from the girl group Loona, according to the K-Pop news website Soompi, citing a statement from the agency.

BlockBerry Creative posted the statement on the group’s fancafe, saying Chuu, whose real name is Kim Ji-woo, allegedly had "violent language and misuse of power" toward the agency’s staff as the reason of the expulsion. No other details were disclosed.

"First of all, we officially apologize to the staff who have been greatly hurt by this incident, and we will put in our full effort so they can now heal and focus on treatment and then return to their normal lives," the company said.

"We apologize to the fans who have loved and supported LOONA until now and ask for your sincere forgiveness in not being able to have 12 members together until the end," it added.

There were speculations this year that Chuu had signed with another company or set up her own, but the agency did not release statements as "to not cause concern to fans."

However, netizens on Twitter expressed "disgust" on how the agency treated Chuu, defending the artist that she might be just speaking out against being "overworked and mistreated."

Officially debuted in 2018, the previously 12-member group Loona has over 2.1 million monthly listeners in Spotify.

It was reported to have topped the iTunes Top Albums charts in June across the globe with its summer special mini-album "Flip That."