MBC’s ‘Point of Omniscient Interference’ is receiving much criticism for using news clips from the Sewol Ferry Incident for humor purpose.
On May 5 broadcast of MBC variety show ‘Point of Omniscient Interference,’ Lee Young-Ja visited a bazaar with her manager and purchased some fish cakes. After the bazaar, they sat down and ate the fish cakes, while talking about a new restaurant Lee Young-Ja had discovered. Then, she said she wants to marry the chef of the restaurant and surprised everyone in the show.
This is when the controversy arose.
As Lee Young-Ja said she wanted to marry the chef, the show decided to use news clips from the Sewol Ferry incident to comically “report” about Lee Yong-Ja’s statement. With a blurred image of Sewol Ferry in the background, they even included a subtitle that said, “Lee Young-Ja breaks shocking announcement while eating fish cakes.”
The term ‘fish cake’ was once used by the members of a Korean conservative online community, ‘Ilbe Storehouse,’ to mock the students who tragically drowned from the Sewol Ferry Incident. When the show aired, many netizens became furious. They argued that it was disrespectful to use the image, let alone relate it to “fish cakes.”
In response, the staff members of the show immediately released an official apology. They said, “we received the already blurred-image from our video editor. We should have realized what the clip was while making final edits, but we failed. At this time, we would like to offer our sincere apology. In addition, we have decided to delete the controversial scenes from all VOD services and rebroadcast of our show. Furthermore, we will take the responsibility and punishment that you think we deserve.”
Meanwhile, because of the controversy, Lee Young-Ja has decided to boycott ‘Point of Omniscient Interference.’
Original Article
Translated by Dasol Kim
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