Lee Junho – Yoona starrer King The Land makers apologise for cultural misrepresentation in the scene featuring Anupam Tripathi: “We have no intention of caricaturing or distorting any particular country or culture”

King The Land premiered on June 17 on JTBC and Netflix, simultaneously.

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

July 12, 2023 - 4:16 PM IST

The makers of the South Korean romantic comedy King The Land, which is currently airing, have apologized for cultural misrepresentation and have promised to rectify the scenes. The show, which is led by Lee Junho and Girls’ Generation’s YoonA, had a special appearance from Indian actor Anupam Tripathi, who rose to fame as Ali Abdul in Squid Game in 2021.

Lee Junho – Yoona starrer King The Land makers apologise for cultural misrepresentation in the scene featuring Anupam Tripathi: “We have no intention of caricaturing or distorting any particular country or culture”

The scene in question was in episode 7 when Anupam Tripathi makes his appearance as Arab Prince Samir who is shown in a club, as a womanizer and also enjoys drinking. This led to backlash on social media as people pointed out that it misrepresented the culture and alcohol consumption. However, after much backlash on social media, the channel JTBC released an official statement apologizing for the scene and promised to rectify it.

The official statement was released in English and Korean languages. It read, “An apology from the production company for 'King the Land'. We would like to express our deep and sincere apology for causing unnecessary inconvenience to our viewers without full consideration of other valued cultures although we have no intention of caricaturing or distorting any particular country or culture in the process. It has been our sharp realization that there has been a lack of understanding, experience, and consideration for other cultures. We will do our best going forward to create content that can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of where they are from and what kind of culture they have. We will take a thorough look into the part of the video which was considered problematic, and do our best to make sure that the right measures are taken. We earnestly promise to our viewers that more care will be taken down the road so that there will be no inconvenience in viewing our content.”

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Meanwhile, King The Land refers to a VVIP business lounge, which is a place of dreams for hoteliers. Lee Junho plays the role of Goo Won, who has everything except for good sense when it comes to dating. Meanwhile, YoonA stars as Cheon Sa Rang who lands a job at King Hotel, which gave her the happiest memories when she was young, and she matures while facing all sorts of prejudice and misunderstanding. King The Land premiered on June 17 on JTBC and Netflix, simultaneously.