Elanne Kong Lashes Out At Management Company: “They Never Paid Me!”
After ten years of working under management company, Universe International, Elanne Kong (江若琳) shockingly exposed she has not received a single penny for her work. With her contract expiring this May, she has no plans for a renewal and earlier sent a legal letter to the company’s Chairman, Daneil Lam (林小明), asking for a termination. However, Daneil is angered by Elanne’s decision and claimed they have lent her $500,000 HKD last year, and she has no right to leave because the company decides the fate of her contract.
Elanne spilled to the press that although she supposedly earned around $10 million HKD throughout the years, Universe never paid her a salary. Thus, she had always been financially relying on her family for a living. An insider exposed the company was extremely harsh and included the charges for transportation, food, laundry, and music video production all in the artistes’ own expenses. A good friend of Elanne’s also spoke up for her and declared she has no savings left and is facing financial issues at the moment. “Elanne was only persistent in staying because she truly likes working in this industry. She was going to make further plans after the contract is over.”
With Elanne’s cry of unfairness, Daneil retorted, “What did she live off of if she hasn’t been receiving money? Perhaps it’s because she’s earning less than she spends!” In terms of the $500,000 HKD he previously mentioned, Daneil claimed Elanne said she was in need of the money last year, which was why they lent her the sum. But in a latter interview, he contradicted himself by saying the money served as a deposit to have Elanne add five years to her management contract.
Elanne later clarified, “I’ve never received any money in the ten years I’ve worked for the company, and it really worried my mother. Mr. Lam was the one who suggested giving me $500,000 HKD last year. He then told me to deposit the sum of money into my bank account so I could tell my mother I have a salary.”
Ironically, Elanne was once accused of breaking up Daneil’s marriage. Reporters approached his ex-wife Chiu Suet Ying (趙雪英) to comment on the matters. No longer friends with Daneil, Suet Ying exclaimed, “This is called karma! He has done so many terrible things. Just think about what he did to me in the past!” In terms of Elanne’s destroyed relationship with Daneil, she said, “ I’m not on either side! I could foresee this day coming, and it was only a matter of which day and which year!”
Daneil told the press they have passed the case to the lawyers and cannot reveal too many details at the moment. “But of course I would like to have it resolved peacefully!” he said.
Accusations that Daneil has been poorly treating artistes point at him from all directions. During their divorce battle in 2012, Chiu revealed that Daneil asked Rain Li (李彩華) to sexually service businessmen. While Rain replied that she had never done so, it was not explicitly stated as to whether she was asked to do so.
Source: Oriental Sunday via ihktv.com
This article is written by Shirley for JayneStars.com.
I think I missed the old pre-Sex and the City culture of Hong Kong girls being very cool and pragmatic. It’s very bad that if you are emotionally vulnerable or swayed by Sex and the City propaganda that you would work for free and date your exploiter.
She is not even famous
Funny how she hasn’t been paid for 10 years and waits until now to complain.
She hasn’t been paid a salary, unlike TV which pays their artistes a salary.
But she gets paid for each movie she makes (that’s how she earns $10 million HKD throughout the years) and the contract will specify the number of movies she’s obliged to make for the company over a period.
She is just saying that she does not get high remuneration. Nothing wrong with that.
This Daneil is a scum.
And it is not a surprise if expenses for transportation, food, production, etc are charged into the artistes’ own expenses.
The company will take the artiste as a business entity with its own P&L, and charge all expenses to them.
This Daniel is a scum, he is just exploitative.
Totally agree!!! Daniel is an advantage-taking cheap dog!!!
It’s hard to believe no reciving any money
If I’m not paid for the 1st month on a job, I leave. I can’t believe she stayed for 10 years? It’s hard to believe.
I agree. What are the rules for receiving salaries in HK? Don’t most people get paid every 2 weeks? And even if artists are paid on commissions sometimes, most still have a base salary right? Who speaks up after 10 years. Perhaps there is some misunderstanding somewhere and we are not getting the whole picture here.
I agree and how is it possible to work for 10 years and not get paid anything? Is that even possible?
she looks like angelababy in the pic. seriously. Compare the pic above and the one with anagelababy concerning about her preganancy. they look the same.
She’s smart to wait till now to speak up. If she did it sooner it would of terminated her contract and she would have to pay for that sum.
doesn’t seem very smart at all..
are you stupid? its very smart of her.
if she stated this earlier, they would terminate her contract and somehow force her to pay the remaining years off. After waiting out the contract, she can sue them, not renew the contract with them and seek out another company. This doesn’t mean she’ll be pay back for all her hardwork in the past but at least she can avoid paying the company back for terminating the contract.
I think so since she is “bound” by a contract. Unless she took legal actions to get paid, she had no other way but stayed. Also I guess Elanne Kong did not expect to be unpaid for 10 whole years. For a brand new artiste to get recognized in the movie industry, she/he would have to make some sacrifices.
Theres no contract if she doesnt get paid. Unless The contract said they give her fame (promoting) in exchange for her work and theres no pay. So if the contract says they must pay her such n such amount and they didnt, then she had all the rights to sue them to terminate her contract during the 1st couple of months.
She doesnt need to sue them to not renew a contract. Its her choice to renew or not.
It was long rumored that she was in a relationship with the boss Daneil Lam. Probably soured now.
What dummy agrees to work for 10 yrs. without being paid? Where did Elanne get the money to pay for her living expenses then?
“she had always been financially relying on her family for a living.”
Elanne Kong is only 26-yo now.
I probably would have started to make a fuss after the first couple of missed paychecks. After 10 years? I’m sorry… but I don’t have much sympathy after that length of time.
again, i mentioned this above but you can’t make a fuss especially if you didn’t make a name for yourself. First off, if she terminated her contract early, she’ll have to pay the years she has left. Second, no other company would hire her for a good pay because they would believe she’ll just make a fuss about everything. It ruins her image in the process.
The article said she was linked with Daniel, she probably didn’t care about getting paid because she was with Daniel and now things are getting out of hand so she decided to sue…
I feel sorry for Elanne and even angry at her manager for not paying her…but WTF…10 years?! Why the hell would one think it’d be okay to wait it out for 10 years with unpaid work?! That’s just stupid really o_O
10 months of upaid is already crazy enough, 10 YEARS…that is so hard to believe. Even if she thought she’s dependent on the company to support her fame/give her work…if you’re not getting paid, then whaaaaattttt in the world are you doing working, for what?
yeah i agree…..
I would tap tha
Eventhough 10 yrs in the industry, I’m not sure what is her strength: singing, acting???
that is not good for elanne kong if u are meant to do jobs with tvb the company they should give money to elanne and reviving it not just don’t give it to elanne so long
elanne”s songs is quite okay to me but not sure about her acting skills
no one mentions her plastic surgery?
I am guessing it is because she is not that famous nor is she associated with anyone famous.
exactly not reviving money unpaid about 10years
not good enough if she doesn’t work in tvb always then why they don’t just give money to her instead of waiting about ten years time not reviving money then why u are going to work???? going to work to have money and getting paid that is not acceptable and not fair for other people that works at tvb hong kong
i meant is that going to work is to have money
The company she’s referring to is not TVB. It’s Universe International.
I don’t get her story. 10 years of not getting paid? That doesn’t make sense. Does she have another source of income?
She must be barely legal when she went into the entertainment industry and Daneil Lam must love the “fresh meat”. If she did not receive a salary, I am sure she must have received numerous and expensive “tokens of appreciation” for her 10 years of work. If she didn’t paid at all, I am sure her family would have spoken out and complained many years ago.
I believe she started when she was about 16.
elanne kong is indeed very pretty and so young like rain li and rose chan and ella koon class… quite sad to know elanne end up with no salary for all these years and wonder why her manager (if any) never fight for her rights? i hope elanne can fight for justice and do not get exploited
She had major PS too. She looks like a completely different person before too.
hi there
1. honest, anyone in the right frame of mind would have jump ship right.
Well as an artist, you are pretty much treated like a slave until you make a name for yourself. And as a contracted artist, that means you dont get to get out ofthe contract unless you can pay the early termination fee, a la Isabella Leong. Well, with no wealthy backers behind her, i fail to see how it’ll help elanne quit the job. And not to mention, if she DOES sue, how long will that lawsuit go on? And how will she find work in the meantime? See: TVXQ band. And im pretty her company gave her a lot of lectures about how much they spent to groom her…so maybe she was naive enough to believe them.