'Bridgerton season 4' actress Ha Yerin, who joined as the lead, has sparked controversy over allegations of racial discrimination.
Recently, Netflix's 'Bridgerton season 4' actors Luke Thompson, Ha Yerin and Hannah Dodd visited Spain to promote the drama.
However, allegations of racial discrimination against Ha Yerin arose during the Spain promotion, causing controversy. Ha Yerin's role in the work is Sophie Beck, the lead of season 4. But a Spain promotion photo raised questions by showing Ha Yerin pushed to the corner. Instead, Hannah Dodd, who plays Francesca Bridgerton, the sister of male lead Benedict Bridgerton (played by Luke Thompson) and a supporting role, appears to stand out more.
Furthermore, at a fan event held in Spain, the seating arrangement placed lead Ha Yerin at the very end and seated Hannah Dodd immediately next to the host. Although the main love line driving the work is carried by Ha Yerin and Luke Thompson, this makes it feel as if Hannah Dodd and Luke Thompson are the male and female leads.
Discriminatory behavior by the media also stood out. Some media outlets misspelled Ha Yerin's name in interview videos, and for the roughly two minutes of the interview, they placed a watermark over Ha Yerin's face so that her face was obscured. Ha Yerin's presence was erased even in thumbnails due to vignetting effects and watermarks.
As such behavior repeated, some domestic netizens poured out criticism asking whether this was racial discrimination. Critics point out that it is hard to consider it coincidence because throughout the Spain promotion uncomfortable incidents repeatedly happened only to Ha Yerin. Moreover, because there were no major problems during the earlier France promotion event, the contrasting atmosphere has fueled even more anger.
In fact, Ha Yerin is a Korean Australian who was born and raised in Sydney and carries wounds from being bullied at school due to racial discrimination in her childhood. In a past interview with a media outlet, she recalled the time and said, "I overcame difficulties with the single-minded determination to become an actor. The harder it was, the more I immersed myself in acting, and acting became healing for me." Amid this, the racial discrimination controversy that surfaced during the 'Bridgerton 4' promotion added to the sorrow.
Meanwhile, 'Bridgerton season 4', in which Ha Yerin appears as the lead, released part 1 on Netflix on the 29th of last month. Part 2 is scheduled to be released on the 26th.
[photos] Netflix social media, ABC, Europa Press
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