Singer Park Jae-beom, who drew criticism for performing an R-rated stage at a breast cancer charity event, issued an apology and explanation, and the organizer W Korea also deleted the controversial stage video.
On the 15th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul, W Korea hosted the 20th breast cancer awareness campaign event. The event, held as a gala dinner and party, featured idol members including TOMORROW X TOGETHER, LE SSERAFIM, MONSTA X, STRAY KIDS, (G)I-DLE, IVE, ILLIT, aespa, NMIXX, ENHYPEN, ALLDAY PROJECT, ITZY, KIKI, as well as actors Gong Myoung, Go Hyun-jung, Gong Myung, Moon So-ri, Park Eun-bin, Byeon Wooseok, Lee Young-ae, Ha Jung-woo and various other popular celebrities who attended to share the cause.
After the charity event site was made public, some netizens criticized it, saying that despite being held for the purpose of raising breast cancer awareness, there was not even a mention of breast cancer.
Actual breast cancer–related events overseas and elsewhere prominently feature the pink ribbon, which signifies charitable acts for breast cancer, or set a pink dress code. In contrast, at this W Korea event, critics said it was impossible to tell it was a breast cancer event because celebrities were dressed all in black rather than pink. In addition, despite the lavish scale, the cumulative donations over 20 years amounted to only 1.1 billion won, which also disappointed attendees.
Meanwhile, criticism arose when it was revealed that at the afterparty Park Jae-beom passionately sang his 2015 song "MOMMAE," which received an R-rated designation for its provocative lyrics, featuring explicit expressions about women's bodies such as "you go long and you go boom" and "the twin sisters hanging on your chest." For that reason, many said it was inappropriate to sing such a song at an afterparty for a charity event aimed at raising breast cancer awareness.
W Korea initially uploaded the video of Park Jae-beom's "MOMMAE" performance to its official social account, but after uncomfortable reactions in the comments such as "It looks like mocking breast cancer patients," it promptly deleted the video.
On the 16th, Park Jae-beom apologized on his social account, saying, "After the official breast cancer campaign event ended, I understood the party and performance to be for those gathered at the venue with good intentions, excluding busy schedules, so I performed as I usually do," and "If cancer patients felt displeased or uncomfortable watching my performance, I am sorry. I hope you stay healthy. Fighting!"
He added, "I also performed willingly without pay in a state of injury with good intentions, so please do not exploit that good intention," and explained, "When I asked that people not exploit it, I meant those who try to create issues out of actions done with good intentions. Please do not misunderstand."
However, even after Park Jae-beom's statement was released, debate continued with opinions ranging from "Park Jae-beom just went and performed" in defense to criticism such as "It was a problem to choose songs inappropriate for the TPO while knowing the event's purpose."
[Photo] OSEN DB, SNS
[OSEN]