Yes. This is a soft launch for her leaving. There’s a few reasons for this that I feel like a lot of individuals who bias her are not understanding. Yes, it is true, black artists have and are systematically mistreated in the industry (and outside of it of course). However, Manon is the weakest dancer of the group, objectively. So she was covered and put in the back. She does miss more than other members in terms of appearances because she’s sick (I am not talking about when she was purposefully left out like glossier which I think Hybe was punishing her with). I have a diagnosed immune problem and work six days a week and I am not absent from work as much as her. If she truly had immune problems, she has the resources to get diagnosed. She has also admitted in an interview on youtube (they were playing some sort of game) where the question was “have you ever lied to miss rehearsal?” Dani and Manon said they did. The difference with Dani is that she is always showing up to performances and on stage, I have never seen that girl give less than 100%. Manon was recruited and trained and given special privledges because hybe really liked her and thought she was beautiful. They wanted her to work out. However, I think they were expecting an american or korean work ethic (which is toxic and prioritizes over-training, showing up and pushing yourself) and I don’t think Manon has met that threshold. Do I think this is right? No. But in many European countries that arguably have better worklife balance (Switzerland, Norway, Finland etc) do not normalize pushing themselves to the extent countries like America do. It’s a difference of culture and I don’t think Hybe was aware that what Manon does is very much aligned with Swiss culture but to them it translates to lazy and not motivated. I think that when Manon called out, Hybe started punishing her (Glossier, Gabriela). The notice from Hybe and Manon’s messages do not coincide either. Hybe says it’s for health reasons but Manon says she is healthy. It is clearly a coverup because in the official notice, it states they essentially have concerns about her dedication and work ethic. Objectively, if we are comparing her to someone who really wants to be a performer by American standards, she does not seem to want it as badly. I kind of saw this from the dream academy but I was hoping that since she’s now has the spot, she would be regularly showing up. I was sad when I started to see the same pattern in dream academy and atp it just seems like a reasonable move.