KBS’s Drama Special, an anthology series of one-act (aka single-episode) dramas, is into its second season now, and its latest installment has become a target of netizen controversy. Today’s (August 7) episode is titled Daughters of Bilitis Club and is peopled entirely with lesbian characters, its title borrowing from the American lesbian rights group Daughters of Bilitis.

Homosexuality is becoming more visible on Korean television screens in both scripted and unscripted forms, and has been a key story point in several network drama series like Coffee Prince, Personal Taste, and Life Is Beautiful. Off network, there was the cable reality program Coming Out, which featured real-life gay people and showcased their stories of identity and acceptance.

It’s promising to see the topic handled with sensitivity and thoughtfulness, even if the progress is slow. But it seems the public is still far from accepting, what with the ill-informed campaigns of netizen mothers who railed against Life Is Beautiful, accusing the show of possibly turning their currently-totally-straight children gay in the near or far future, yunno, just in case The Gay is transmittable through airwaves and the power of suggestion. And now Drama Special has received complaints for the Daughters of Bilitis Club episode, with demands to take it off the air immediately. Some have called its frank portrayal of its lesbian characters unfit for television.

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Post tags: controversies, Drama Special, Han Go-eun

SBS’s weekend drama Life Is Beautiful is perhaps most notable for the gay couple at its center, played by Song Chang-eui and Lee Sang-woo. The October 23 broadcast, however, edited out a key moment for them that has brought on a flood of viewer complaints and has angered writer Kim Soo-hyun, who, by the way, is one of the most well-known and respected drama writers in the country.

The scene that should have been aired features the abovementioned couple, Tae-sub and Kyung-soo, speaking their commitment vows to each other in a church. The two had just attended the wedding of Ho-sub (Lee Sang-yoon) and Yeon-joo (Nam Sang-mi), and take a quiet moment to speak their devotion to each other.

Apparently the Jeju Island church where they filmed the scene voiced a complaint and requested that filming be halted. They asked for the producers to remove all dialogue from that part, after which filming proceeded wordlessly. Producers had intended to air the scene as filmed but the result hardly had the intended effect. (...)
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Looks like KBS is standing by leading lady Kim Ji-soo, and will not be cutting her from her upcoming sageuk drama King Geunchogo despite the controversy over her drunk hit-and-run accident a couple weeks ago.

The timing of the accident was uncomfortably close to the premiere of KBS’s new big-budget production, which had producers and broadcasters worried as the wave of public scorn for Kim’s actions cast the show in a negative light before it had even begun. The station made an early statement that they were not considering dropping Kim, but there was still speculation that her job was in danger, with the public calling for her dismissal. The tenor was particularly harsh given that this was Kim’s second DUI; the first was in 2000.

A senior rep from the drama stated on October 21 that Kim would remain onboard, saying, “We recognize that the situation with Kim Ji-soo comes with social and ethical problems. We did think hard about whether to drop her. However, she has reflected heavily and intends to throw herself even more thoroughly into her role, and she will receive sufficient punishment in a legal sense, so we decided to continue as planned.”

King Geunchogo will premiere on November 6 and is planned for 70 episodes.

Via Asiae

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Let this be a lesson to actors everywhere: Don’t shoot off your mouth, especially in public. Oh, and the Korean public hates when their celebrities boast, even if they didn’t intend to be arrogant. Also, Korean celebrities have really thin skin. (But we knew that.)

Actress Park Joo-mi got herself into a bit of hot water earlier this week when she made what seemed to be a careless (but not malicious) statement at a press conference on Monday. Park was promoting her new movie, The Demolished Man, which stars Kim Myung-min as a father out to recover his daughter from her psycho kidnapper, and said that she had to choose between taking this movie or the role of Tae-ra in SBS’s Bad Guy, and picked The Demolished Man.

She hadn’t taken a particular dig at actress Oh Yeon-soo, who now plays that role, but when you make a statement like that the unspoken implication is that she was chosen first, and that the other woman was brought in as her substitute. Producers were unhappy with her unexpected comments and spoke up the following day, Tuesday, correcting Park’s misleading statement by stating that Oh Yeon-soo had always been their first choice. When it was unclear whether her schedule would work out, they contacted a few actresses, including Park Joo-mi, to see if their schedules would be open, as a backup measure.

Then on Wednesday, Oh Yeon-soo expressed her discontent with the way the story wouldn’t die, and posted on her Twitter, “I’m feeling pretty upset this morning. Because of actor Park ** going around talking about the Tae-ra role, it’s ruined the mood to film. I’m feeling like crap because of her utter rudeness.” Fans agreed, calling Park’s statements ill-mannered, though some also called Oh out for criticizing Park on Twitter.

With fans and now industry professionals upset with her, Park issued an official apology on Friday through her management, Sidus HQ, apologizing for the misunderstanding that arose out of her press conference statements, “And I’m most sorry toward Oh Yeon-soo sunbae. I hope that there will be no more misunderstandings about me, and I’ll remain a devoted fan of Bad Guy through the end.”

The same day, Oh Yeon-soo posted again to her Twitter, “I have a simple personality so I forgot it quickly, but the issue keeps growing. I just want to work hard on filming.”

So, what does this whole incident say? First, celebrities on Twitter have (1) a lot of power with a single statement, (2) but a lot of power to hurt themselves just as easily. (Seriously, people, Twitter is public. Very, very public. So is Facebook.) Also, despite a lack of intent to harm, you’ll still be criticized and sometimes attacked for making a silly statement. And Park should really have thought twice; she exaggerated the truth slightly (or misled through omission), but the issue doesn’t end with what she said explicitly, but rather what she implied. It’s the difference between saying, “I was almost in SNSD” and “I was almost in SNSD in place of __ member.” (I’m just imagining the sorts of fandom hell THAT would induce.)

Via TV Report

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The bigger they are, the louder the criticism. That’s why I’d take the following with a teeny grain of salt, although it cannot be denied that KBS’s blockbuster hit drama Chuno is garnering a lot of criticism, much of it directed toward its lead star Lee Da-hae.

When the drama first aired, there was a little talk of Lee Da-hae looking “too pretty” — note that she plays a slave, and then a runaway, all while maintaining a pristine appearance even when the men around her are shown in their grimy, masculine glory. But that first wave of commentary faded after a few days, even if most fans seemed to feel she ought to have looked a little dirtier.

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After the story broke about an ex-girlfriend of Lee Byung-heon accusing the star of tricking her into a sexual relationship (which Lee’s side refuted as an attempt at blackmail and extortion), Lee has now responded personally. He posted his feelings in a December 13 message on his homepage, and while he didn’t address any of the accusations directly, he called them “distorted truth” and encouraged his fans not to worry, as the truth will come out in the end.

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Post tags: controversies, lawsuits, Lee Byung-heon

Get ready for what will surely become another entertainment industry rollercoaster of scandalous claims: Lee Byung-heon, megastar and current lead in KBS drama IRIS, has been accused by a Korean-Canadian woman of sexual misconduct and slapped with a lawsuit. Lee refutes the claims and is fighting back.

According to Lee’s management company, BH Entertainment, the star had been the target of “severely slanderous” phone calls beginning in November from an undisclosed group of men, who blackmailed Lee with threats to “expose him to a scandal” if he did not pay them several billions of won. On December 8, a lawsuit was filed with the Seoul District Court by a 22-year-old Canadian gyopo (a Ms. Kwon), who charged that Lee had lured her into a sexual relationship with false promises of marriage. As a result of the mental and physical harm she suffered, she demanded compensation for damages. The amount is for 100 million won, or roughly $86,000 USD.

The woman in question had been a student studying rhythmic gymnastics at York University in Canada before meeting Lee in September 2008, and was a Canadian national athlete. He had been in Toronto to promote his movie The Good, The Bad, The Weird when they met through a friend’s introduction. The president of a company that sponsored Lee told her that she could continue to study and practice gymnastics in Korea and asked her to move to be with Lee. Lee approved the idea, and she left Canada. However, she says that Lee’s behavior changed after her arrival in Korea, and he grew indifferent. He set her up in a home in Seoul but left her to be alone most of the time. She emphasized, “I believe that as a famous star, he used his celebrity and financial power to merely toy with me then abandon me.”

A BH Entertainment representative explained, “Lee Byung-heon did have a girlfriend whom he met last autumn and broke up with this spring, but the abovementioned men threatened to create falsehoods about him and the ex-girlfriend while demanding money. However, when Lee Byung-heon refused to comply, they presented the woman as plaintiff in a civil suit.” The threats demanded 2 billion won (approx $1.7 million) and the men are said to be connected to Ms. Kwon, although their exact relationship was not disclosed. The rep explained that as Lee’s side had done nothing wrong, they had requested an investigation into the threats. They will counter through legal channels with their own lawsuit for defamation of character.

Via Segye, BNT News

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Bad news for Jang Nara: Her film company has decided to pull their recent film Sky and Ocean from theaters a mere twelve days into its run. The company says this is in response to the controversy the film has sparked, but no doubt the abysmal ticket receipts are also to blame.

For being a small, relationship-based music film, the film has been at the center of a lot of noise. Jang’s production company, which is headed by her father Ju Ho-sung, has battled accusations that there was unfair lobbying going on behind the scenes when the film was nominated for a best film Daejong Award.

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With only a day before its airdate, the premiere of Iris was thrown into question as the drama’s production company, Taewon Entertainment, announced a dispute with its broadcaster, KBS. After a day of negotiations, the two sides did reconcile and come to an agreement, meaning that the Wednesday premiere of the high-profile action series will continue as planned. But not without some major issues built in, as we learned from the grievances aired by Taewon.

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Spunky Seo Woo (Crush and Blush) is the latest actor to be caught in a lie about her age (others: Sunwoo Sun, Lee Shi-young, Hyun Young), as it has been revealed that she is three years older than previously believed. She was thought to be 21 (or 22 by Korean count) and born in 1988; in actuality, she is 24, born in 1985. Her real name has also been revealed as Kim Mun-joo, although that’s not such a surprise, since she has acknowledged that Seo Woo is a stage name.

Her management has stated that discrepancy is their fault, and not a result of Seo Woo’s intention to lie about her age: “We hope that criticism will not be directed at her. We’re sorry and ask for your forgiveness.”

I don’t think this is much of a big deal, and I doubt it’ll have much of an effect on her career; it’s more of a matter of interest than a controversy. In this age of the internet, it’s interesting that people continue to try to fudge ages, although Seo Woo’s very youthful face probably helped with the perception.

In the meantime, she is currently acting in Tamra the Island, and has spoken out several times to express her sorrow at the early ending. She’s also apologized to viewers, feeling that the show’s lack of success is largely her fault. Next up, she has the October release of her movie Paju to look forward to, which co-stars Lee Seon-kyun.

Via Segye

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