Geffen Records recently became the subject of controversy due to one of the company’s senior executives, Ray Kurzeka.
Recently, BTS’s Jimin announced the release of his second album, MUSE, which is set to drop in July.
ARMYs are anticipating Jimin’s new album with plans to promote and stream. They also requested record label Geffen Records, which is responsible for distributing, to promote Jimin’s upcoming album, as the company does for its artists.
Geffen Records didn't even post any of Jimin's content from MUSE on Instagram.
Please do better @GeffenRecords @UMG @BIGHIT_MUSIC pic.twitter.com/T2lShHiUnX
— MELROSE (@Melkenstock) June 23, 2024
One ARMY took to X (formerly Twitter) to directly address Geffen Records and Ray Kurzeka, requesting the iTunes pre-order links for Jimin’s new single, “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band,” while also urging the company to release a European version to boost the single’s performance on the UK charts.
Yet, Kurzeka unexpectedly replied with a Spotify link to “us,” a song by Gracie Abrams featuring Taylor Swift, while even adding the caption, “song of the year…” ARMYs couldn’t have been more shocked, as Kurzeka’s reply appeared both dismissive and unprofessional.
Apparently a higher official in geffen records is openly fucking with us… an official from a label that's supposed to represent BTS' interest and take care of their releases… This is so disrespectful and unprofessional it's blowing my mind pic.twitter.com/OeZaKoFkKF
— gomooshin⁷ (@taesoothe) June 22, 2024
This instantly sent a wave of backlash to both him and the company, with ARMYs accusing Kurzeka of mocking their legitimate requests. Rather than apologize and address the accused “unprofessionalism,” he deactivated his X account and LinkedIn profile.
In tears at him deactivating even his LinkedIn? literally deactivated all his socials. Bruh 😭😭😭
We still need that apology and presave and pre-order link
GEFFEN APOLOGIZE TO JIMIN
BIGHIT TREAT JIMIN FAIRLY pic.twitter.com/jxbiQe0dio
— Star ✨ MUSE by Jimin (@minieskies) June 23, 2024
ARMYs continually demanded that Geffen Records issue a formal apology as well as take action against Kurzeka. They argued that his response was unprofessional, disrespectful, etc.
We must mass email BigHit about @GeffenRecords openly sabotaging a contracted BTS member. It's most certainly violating their contract with BTS, a contract on which geffen makes millions. BTS' reps in bighit need to know and call in contract execution review.
We should probably… https://t.co/6GG4iBkdn8
— gomooshin⁷ (@taesoothe) June 23, 2024
.@GeffenRecords how are you holding Ray Kurzeka accountable? Will he receive disciplinary action seeing he is clearly unfit to hold a position at a SVP level? We know he is in hiding from social media but are you going to enable his poor behavior mocking a consumer?@bts_bighit
— Katchimolala (@permylastemail7) June 23, 2024
.@GeffenRecords and @bts_bighit please look into this extremely unprofessional behavior of @raykurzeka . By now I wouldn't be surprised if he fcked with Jimin's week 2. Probably all the other BTS releases. pic.twitter.com/kOvmMv7VFN
— Katchimolala (@permylastemail7) June 23, 2024
Now, after several days, Geffen Records has finally released a statement.
The post went viral with 2.1M views at the time of writing. The company apologized, claiming an employee made a mistake and was sorry.
Statement from Geffen Records. pic.twitter.com/T0RPKE1ML6
— Geffen Records (@GeffenRecords) June 27, 2024
Yet, ARMYs are not buying it. Many felt the statement was released a little too late. ARMYs pointed out that Geffen Records chose to address the issue on the release day of Jimin’s “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band (feat. Loco).”
ARMYs also pointed out the problematic and condescending wording of Geffen Records’ statement. They called out the “mistakes” and explained how it should have been worded.
Translation: we would rather dub a deliberate disrespect as a "mistake", we still won't move for MUSE or promote BTS like we are paid for, we won't even acknowledge previous incidents of incompetency and unprofessionalism towards BTS members, and yeah we basically just did a…
— gomooshin⁷ (@taesoothe) June 27, 2024
As someone who manages a global PR team, I’d like to point out the negative reaction you’re receiving is 100% due to the insincere language in your statement. You should’ve taken out the first two sentences and not addressed the fans (called ARMY) at all. In case you didn’t know,…
— Tina⁷ (@MinYoongiSwagg7) June 27, 2024
This is a standard issue: sorry not sorry statement
An apology says
1. I was wrong
2. I will reflect on my being wrong so when I give assurances it won't happen again you can believe me
3. Promise it will not happen again
4. Acknowledge the harm done
Without 1-4 this is…
— OT⁷ ⟭⟬ ANG -NOONA #방탄소년단 (@angleeyze) June 27, 2024
ARMYs just hope that the company will do better now and promote Jimin’s new music.