[NEWS] Has SM Entertainment Been Limiting Luhan's Activities?

So according to Luhan, a fan account stanning EXO’s Luhan, SM Entertainment has been restricting Luhan’s activities for quite some time now.

Apparently 1 Night 2 Days in China wanted to sign Luhan up to participate on their show, but SM Entertainment denied their request due to Luhan’s busy schedule (concerts, album-recording, etc).

Not only that, but Shanghai-Oriental TV’s “Immortal Song” was rumored to be a solo activity for Luhan, which SM Entertainment turned into a group activity (which is actually best for EXO-M as a whole).

I can understand both cases, especially the Immortal Song situation. While we all love Luhan, we know that he doesn’t have powerhouse vocals. So it’s best to have Lay, Chen, and Xiumin there with him on stage to give him extra support.

Other than those two cases, SM Entertainment has apparently also denied Luhan from participating in adrama, 2 other shows, and an endorsement deal.

Fans have been speculating as to why SM Entertainment would be doing this to Luhan. Some say that this is exactly like Hangeng’s situation with SM Entertainment. One thing that I would like to point out is that all of this information is a bit suspect… Hangeng’s manager just released a statement yesterday regarding all of the troubles SM Entertainment put Hangeng through, so it’s suspicious that suddenly this rumor about Luhan is starting to spread around.

Fans believe that Luhan’s situation isn’t like Hangeng’s at all, and that SM Entertainment is really looking out for his and the EXO’s best interest. Since EXO is still a rookie group, SM Entertainment probably doesn’t want to promote solo activities within the group just yet. The company would want to solidify the group as a whole first. We wouldn’t want the whole Suzy/Miss A or Hyuna/4Minute situation to happen to EXO.

The reason I’m writing this article, however, despite Luhanqt’s information still being regarded as a rumor, is because I do wonder why EXO-M hasn’t gotten their own set of endorsements yet. We see EXO-K endorsing their own brands, but we don’t see EXO-M doing the same in China. As we know, in the idol world, endorsements are one of the primary ways idols make money.

So yeah, I would love to see SM Entertainment sign EXO-M up to do endorsement deals on their own. If EXO-K gets their own opportunities, EXO-M should as well.

However, with regards to speculation that SM Entertainment is purposely limiting its Chinese members’ activities, I will have to say that that’s untrue.

I mean just recently, EXO-M’s Kris and Tao had their own gig on “Let’s Go Dream Team”. Before that, Tao was featured on MBC’s Star Diving Splash. And Xiumin (even though he’s Korean, he’s still part of EXO-M) just filmed an MV (on his own) for Nell. SM Entertainment gives EXO-M plenty of activities to work on. I’m sure Luhan will get his own personal activities too (as long as they’re in Korea and not far away in China).

I personally believe that SM Entertainment isn’t pulling a “Hangeng” on EXO-M. I do think that they have valid reasons for denying Luhan his gigs (it just isn’t the right time at the moment). Perhaps it would be different if the gigs offered to Luhan were based in Korea, but they’re not.

And also, I’m not too sure how valid Luhanqt is as a source… She was the first one to bring up the whole EXO-M sasaeng car incident, which was also a rumor… and that’s a rumor that still hasn’t been confirmed. Given EXO’s popularity, newspapers would have been all over that incident.