SM Entertainment finally released this statement confirming that Luhan has in fact filed a suit to remove himself from the agency:

We found out today about Luhan’s decision via the law firm. Since we had discussed both his health issues and wanting to focus on solo and Chinese promotions instead of EXO promotions with him, we are confused by his sudden wish for contract nullification.

Just like with Kris, we were given no warning or reason before the lawsuit was filed. This is a recurring pattern, where an artist will join a group and actively promote, gathering fame and fans, and then once they have made these gains, they do not fulfill their half of the contract and instead question the legality of the contract before the court. They then gather support and partner with strong foreign backing and plan their resignation. It seems that there is someone behind the scenes pulling strings.

In regard to these kind of situations, our agency plans to take action along with our overseas and Chinese partners as well as legal experts.

EXO will continue with their schedules as planned.

The gist of it seems to be that SME thinks Luhan AND Kris trained with them for all those years just to debut in EXO, get a little recognition and a fanbase, and then drop them like a hot potato to pursue bigger and better and solo-er things in China. It all has an anti-China vibe to it, and it’s giving major fuel to some racist netizens:

[+1,118, -100] The Chinese and their backstabbing, I swear

[+654, -20] I think SM should stop casting Chinese people..

[+334, -17] Stop debuting Chinese members

[+114, -7] One goose bump inducing point… Kris,Luhan, and Jessica.. all three are related to China in some way and have left. Got popular off of the group and left to make money on their own in the Chinese market. Backstabbing ㅋㅋㅋ

[+85, -4] First Tyler Kwon seducing Jessica with all his business talk over in Hong Kong.. Gotta stop dealing with the Chinese.

It’s no secret that SM has a bad track record with treating their artists fairly, and it’s not limited to Chinese members, case and point JYJ and Shinhwa. Plus, the kind of hate comments coming out about Chinese people in the wake of Luhan’s departure is giving me an idea of what it’s like to be a foreigner in Korea and why someone would give up success to get away from it. If I was being overworked and mistreated and overlooked for opportunities just because I wasn’t born on a certain piece of land I’d want out too. So, all I can say to Luhan is: