'Hangout With Yoo' side apologized for the face-slapping controversy and the process of departure that left 'severe damage' to actor Lee Yi-kyung's image.
On the 22nd, MBC 'Hangout With Yoo' (hereafter Hangout) released a statement on its official social media account saying, 'Among the posts Lee Yi-kyung posted on Friday afternoon on the 21st, regarding the issues related to 'Hangout With Yoo', we will speak openly without hiding anything.'
Earlier, Lee Yi-kyung directly addressed the matter about a month after the private life rumors surfaced. He said he was advised to leave 'Hangout', where he had worked for three years, and mentioned the 'face-slapping controversy' that left a deep wound on his image. Lee Yi-kyung said he had no choice but to do the face-slapping due to pressure from the production team and that he only received absurd replies, which forced him to bear the controversy alone.
Hangout explained, 'The face-slapping situation was an oversight by the production team that failed to protect the participant. To give viewers laughter, Lee Yi-kyung spontaneously showed the face-slapping during filming for the Hong Kong and Japan episodes, and at the time the production team judged the reaction was not bad.'
It continued, 'Later, to provide more amusement, we asked Lee Yi-kyung again to do the face-slapping, but that went too far. During production, Lee Yi-kyung's line, 'It's for entertainment!' was edited out, and we failed to accurately gauge viewers' sensibilities, which hurt Lee Yi-kyung and made viewers uncomfortable. Instead of the edited line, we tried to convey a message to view it as entertainment through the chosen line and caption, 'for fun, again...' but that was insufficient. After the controversy arose, we apologized to Lee Yi-kyung and quickly edited out only the face-slapping explanation from the opening that was to air the following week and broadcast it. However, we acknowledge the production's failure to fully resolve the face-slapping controversy and offer our apologies once again to Lee Yi-kyung and to everyone who felt discomfort.'
Regarding the departure, it said, 'First, we advised his agency to have him leave, and the production stated it would respect the agency's decision even if the agency publicized the recommendation for him to leave. Afterwards, Lee Yi-kyung's agency contacted us saying they would choose voluntary departure due to scheduling.'
It added, 'From the production's position of having recommended his departure, we thought it was the least we could do for Lee Yi-kyung and asked the cast to mention voluntary departure due to scheduling in consultation with the agency, and conveyed this on the broadcast. The cast followed our request as a courtesy to Lee Yi-kyung. We ask that criticism or speculation aimed at other cast members be restrained.'
Hangout bowed its head and said, 'The production will more carefully and meticulously review the entire production process so that performers' efforts to bring laughter are not distorted.'
Meanwhile, regarding the private life rumors, Lee Yi-kyung said, 'The ending you are curious about will come soon after a warrant is issued and a suspect is identified. Even if they are in Germany, I will go there in person to file a complaint. There will be no leniency for malicious commenters either.'
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