Comedy channel pulls re-election parody scene, issues apology
The team behind comedian Lee Su-ji’s YouTube channel removed a disputed scene and apologized after backlash over a parody critics said mocked re-election protesters.
A screen capture from comedian Lee Su-ji's YouTube channel "Hot Issue Ji." The channel's production team apologized on July 15 over a video that critics said mocked protesters demanding a re-election.
SCREEN CAPTURE
The team behind comedian Lee Su-ji's YouTube channel Hot Issue Ji has apologized after critics said one of its videos mocked protesters calling for a re-election, after ballot shortages in the June 3 local elections.
The production team posted the apology on its YouTube channel on Wednesday.
"We sincerely apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable or disappointed because of the video," it said. "The scene that many people pointed to was not used to convey any particular issue or political position."
The apology followed growing criticism of the video, which was released on Tuesday. In it, Lee played Kim Ji-young, a first-year civil servant, in a satire of the daily grind of public workers worn down by complaints. The video touched on abusive complaints, low pay, heavy workloads and rigid workplace culture.
The criticism centered on a scene in which a person filing a complaint repeatedly shouted "Re-election!" Critics said it cast the protesters, who have been demanding a re-election since the June 3 ballot shortage, as abusive complainants.
"Using the scene without thinking carefully enough about a socially sensitive issue was a lapse in judgment on our part," the team said. "This has nothing to do with the cast's personal political leanings or views, and it happened because we did not review the video carefully enough during production."
The team added that it took the matter seriously and would "produce content with a greater sense of responsibility going forward," and said it was sorry for causing the cast unnecessary misunderstanding and pressure.
As the criticism spread, the team deleted the scene. Critical comments kept coming anyway. "There are plenty of other things to use as comedy material," one read. Another asked whether the video had treated "citizens who have been calling for a re-election for more than a month" as nuisances, and a third asked whether it was acceptable to make comedy out of people whose right to vote had been stripped away.
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
