On September 24, TS Entertainment released an official statement about Sleepy’s contract.

A day earlier, Sleepy had revealed chat records between him and staff members at TS Entertainment, as well as a copy of his exclusive contract, through Dispatch.

Although Sleepy and TS Entertainment agreed to part ways after Sleepy filed a request to suspend his contract earlier this year, the two parties are still involved in a legal dispute over payments and financial dealings during their time together.

In their new statement, TS Entertainment denied the claims that Sleepy made in the Dispatch report. They stated, “The report released through a media outlet yesterday is not true. When the report claimed that Sleepy’s contract only allowed him 50 percent of the profits in the area of advertising, this was a distortion of the facts.”

Sleepy had claimed that his initial contract had a 1:9 payment ratio (10 percent of net profits to Sleepy, 90 percent to TS Entertainment) except in the area of advertising, where net profits were split fifty-fifty.

TS Entertainment continued, “Most of the income that rappers make is from events or concerts. When Sleepy sent us his request to suspend his contract in April, he himself attached a copy of his first contract with us, which he signed when he was still unknown in the entertainment industry. In article 12, paragraph 4, the contract states that the appearance fees from concerts or events will be split fifty-fifty. Even though this was in 2008, and he was still a rookie, we split the profits fifty-fifty in the area that was most important for a rapper, concerts and events. Therefore, it is untrue to claim that the payment ratio was 1:9 for everything except advertising.”

TS Entertainment included a copy of this section of the contract. The agency also stated that in 2007, when Sleepy was promoting as part of the rap duo Untouchable, he was a trainee at another agency. According to TS Entertainment, Sleepy paid a cancellation fee to the other agency in order to sign with TS Entertainment.

TS Entertainment also added that the payment ratio was revised two times after their contract renewal with Sleepy in 2016. They stated, “Contract affairs were not one-sided but took place after discussions with the artist. Therefore, it is not possible for there to have been problems with the payment ratio.”

TS Entertainment further stated that they had paid expenses that were not included in Sleepy’s contract, such as minor maintenance expenses, and announced that they would be releasing another statement about this soon.

The agency stated, “For the past 10 years, Sleepy and the staff member in charge of accounting have looked over the accounts together. After each meeting, Sleepy would take a photo of the documents that he needed to remember. Sleepy was fully aware of his financial accounts with the agency, to the point where he could have detailed discussions with the staff member and explain his situation to management.”

TS Entertainment concluded, “In the lawsuit that Sleepy filed to suspend his contract, he did not mention the agency not paying him properly. We would also like to clarify that the court rejected Sleepy’s claims that we violated his contract and broke his trust.”

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