Actor Kim Min-jong directly explained the resurfaced 'dine-and-dash' controversy. It was due to footage from 'My Little Old Boy' that aired as long as five years ago. Responses saying it was an untimely case of devil's editing are also continuing.
On the Feb. 18 broadcast of KBS1's Morning Yard Tuesday guest segment, Kim Min-jong and Ye Ji-won, who won three awards for the film Florence, appeared to share behind-the-scenes stories from filming and updates on their current lives.
First, Kim Min-jong addressed the "bittersweet" misunderstanding that arose because of his drastic physical transformation. He said, "Because of the project I grew my hair and beard, people around me asked, 'Why are you living like that these days? You look like you're struggling,'" and added, "I went to a restaurant and the owner didn't take my meal payment," which sent the studio into laughter.
Then, when a rumor that "he left a restaurant without paying" was mentioned in the 'Only gossip' corner, Kim Min-jong immediately corrected it, saying, "It wasn't that I tried not to pay; I tried to pay, but they wouldn't accept it." He explained, "On SBS' My Little Old Boy, I was portrayed as if I lived in a container in Yangpyeong. The power of broadcasting is frightening; that container was depicted as if it were my actual residence."
Kim Min-jong said, "It seems the restaurant owner watched that broadcast very intensely. When I visited after a long time, at first she couldn't recognize me at all, and later when she did she said, 'Fine, go. Why are you living like that,'" and he jokingly added, "I'm healthy and happy. Ma'am, I'm living well in Gangnam."
The 'Yangpyeong container life' Kim Min-jong mentioned was actually revealed on the 2020 SBS broadcast of My Little Old Boy. At the time, the program packaged him as a 'natural minimalist teen star' living in a container box in the mountains of Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, and the image that he was living alone in a quiet place after losing his mother took strong hold.
Because the small studio-type container house, scenes of him cooking over a wood fire, and footage of him taking cosmetics out of a mini refrigerator to take care of himself were all shown, the 'minimalist natural man Kim Min-jong' image was deeply etched in the public's mind. In particular, the scene in which he visited his mother's grave and cried while admitting, "These days I have to drink to sleep," left a strong impression.
Because of that background, even five years later the misunderstanding that 'Yangpyeong container life = actual residence' continued, which even led the restaurant owner to misunderstand. Kim Min-jong's recent direct explanation was meant to "clear up the misunderstanding" about that broadcast packaging. Internet users reacted variously, saying, "A case where the concept solidified into real life... Kim Min-jong must have been embarrassed," "I didn't expect the container image to follow him even five years later," "It's refreshing that he honestly said it was broadcast packaging," "Isn't this devil's editing? Back on My Little Old Boy it really gave a touching natural man feeling," and "The dine-and-dash controversy was ultimately a misunderstanding. A bittersweet situation."
[Photo] OSEN DB, broadcast screen'
[OSEN]