[theqoo] 'KING THE LAND' REP, SECOND APOLOGY REGARDING MISREPRESENTATION OF THE ARAB CULTURE "WE HAD NO INTENTION OF MAKING A CARICATURE"

JTBC's 'King the Land' has responded to the recent controversy over its culturally insensitive portrayal of an Arab character.

As previously reported, Indian actor Anupam Tripathy – known for playing Ali Abdul in 'Squid Game' – played a hotel VIP guest and wealthy Arab prince Samir in episodes 7 and 8 of the program. 

In the episodes, Samir is depicted as an alcoholic womanizer called a "player" by Lee Junho's character and even flirts with YoonA's character while staying at the hotel. Soon after the episodes were released through Netflix, overseas viewers expressed outrage about the Samir character, with many saying it did not respect Arab culture. One criticism was that the Arab role was not even played by an Arab actor, while others criticized the things Samir did in the episode, including visiting a nightclub, which is something they felt Arabs would not do.

JTBC's response, which was released on July 10 KST, insisted, "The characters, regions, and place names appearing in the drama are all fictitious settings, and [Samir] was not portrayed as a prince of a specific country."

Meanwhile, 'King the Land' tells the story of a stern hotel heir Goo Won, who finds himself experiencing new romantic feelings for Cheon Sarang, an upbeat and positive hotelier.

CR: Allkpop

original post: here

1. Do you think that having good viewership is everything? I won't be watching it from now on

2. That's not an apology

3. Look at their level

4. Do they know how popular Korean dramas are overseas nowadays? This is so ignorant...

5. No but they didn't even admit their faults nor said sorry. Why can't they acknowledge it?ㅜ

6. Tsk tsk tsk just how thoughtless were they when making this drama? This isn't even a mistake, it's straight up f*cked up

7. I'm seriously embarrassed

8. That's an apology? Geez

9. The fact that they didn't intend this makes it even more hopeless

10. Anyone can tell that this was wrong. They should just shut up and apologize. Why are they dragging it so long?

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