Kiwoom Heroes professional baseball player Lee Ju-hyeong is facing public backlash for an impolite request he left for actress Park Eunbin.
On the 4th, Park Eunbin held a live broadcast on her social account while interacting with fans.
Meanwhile, a comment saying "Please do Woo Young-woo's manner of speaking" appeared in the chat and drew attention. Park Eunbin continued interacting with fans without any particular reaction.
The person who left that comment was professional baseball player Lee Ju-hyeong. Lee Ju-hyeong made that request to Park Eunbin using his verified official account. Netizens who saw this poured criticism on Lee Ju-hyeong's careless words and actions.
Woo Young-woo is a character Park Eunbin played in the ENA drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," which aired in 2022; she is a lawyer character who has a genius intellect and is also on the autism spectrum. Because the character is described as being on the "autism spectrum," Park Eunbin is well known for taking special care in her performance so that people who actually have the same disability would not feel hurt or mocked.
In an interview at the end of the drama, Park Eunbin said, "Woo Young-woo's intonations or behaviors were absolutely forbidden from imitating real autistic people. I felt it was an ethical responsibility as an actor," and added, "Each actor may have different methodologies, but in the methodology I considered, I thought you should not use their characteristics as instrumental devices. Because I am someone who acts, I excluded such references."
Meanwhile, asking as if it were a party trick to "please do Woo Young-woo's manner of speaking" was criticized as being contrary to the mindset the actor embraced and rude to people with autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, many said that because he is a public figure whose name and face are known, he should have been more careful with his words and actions. However, some argued that the reaction was an overinterpretation, and debate continues.
As the controversy grew, critical comments have even appeared on Lee Ju-hyeong's SNS account. Kiwoom Heroes reportedly said, "Lee Ju-hyeong did not post the comment with any intent," and that "he recognizes his mistake."
[Photo] OSEN DB, SNS
[OSEN]