American Boy Groups Challenge Managers Of Psychological And Financial Harm.
Key Sentence:
- American boy band Why Don't We accused one of their managers of "mental.
- Emotional and financial abuse," made them "hostage in our own house," and restricted their food.
The song's latest album peaked at number five in the UK in January.
They alleged that the manager, who they did not name, was "watching us around the clock," verbally punishing them and causing the members to have eating disorders. David Loeffler, one of their managers, dismissed the allegations as "false, offensive."
Why don't we say they were between 15 and 18 years old and "young, impressive, and trustworthy" when they started and lived in the same house. "Little did we know that in 'Why Don't We Combine' we ended up being prisoners under the tutelage of one of our managers at Signature Entertainment Partners," they wrote on social media.
"He not only stays with us during the day but monitors us around the clock by setting an alarm that goes off when a door or window is opened. Unfortunately, we didn't receive the alarm security code.
They added that their food was "limited to the point that some group members developed eating disorders," and they were forced to smuggle food into the house.
"We are verbally defiled and alienated from our friends and family on an almost daily basis," they added. "We don't have a support system except for each other, and we believe that it's 'normal' for every artist to pay for their contribution." The band has two top 10 albums in the US, and their testimony comes after two former Signature Entertainment partners sued each other.
Loeffler and music industry veteran Randy Phillips started the band's careers but split last month and sued each other for running and controlling signature bands and other companies. At the time, Phillips' attorney Howard King alleged that Loeffler had subjected the group to "years of psychological and financial abuse."
According to Billboard, the band refused to sign a record deal with Atlantic Records or perform as a band in late August until Mr. Phillips was reappointed as sole manager. The group's attorney, Alan Gutman, said in a statement at the time that they "supported Randy Phillips in the same way he has supported us since the beginning of our career."
On Friday, Mr. Loeffler Michael Levin said Signature had a profit-sharing agreement with Why Won't We members that were "very useful to individual WDW members" and gave them a total of around $10 million (£7.2 million). He added, "Recent comments attributed to WDW members are false, hurtful, and intended to be part of a draconian strategy to avoid their obligations under this agreement.
"This signing would certainly welcome a reasonable and friendly solution to this problem, which maintains the mutually beneficial relationship that has made WDW such a huge success so far."