Amid controversy over Starbucks Korea's mocking of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, past controversies of 'Running Man' have been exhumed.
Recently, parts of SBS variety show Running Man's episode 455, which aired on June 2, 2019, have resurfaced on online communities and social media.
Although the segment has since been edited out, the original broadcast of Running Man at the time held a mini game in which Running Man members competed for the right to design merchandise T-shirts ahead of the program's first domestic fan meeting in celebration of its ninth anniversary. During that segment, Kim Jong Kook targeted the yellow team of Lee Kwangsoo and Jeon So Min, saying, "I think the yellow team will all pick number 1," and Jeon So Min coughed as if nervous. At that moment, a caption read, "When you tap number 1, 'eok' you choke."
The caption drew a torrent of complaints that it evoked the torture and death of the late Park Jong Cheol. In reality he died after being waterboarded by police, and critics said the caption mocked the police's false explanation that "he hit the desk and died suddenly."
SBS apologized at the time, saying, "It was meant to satirize the recording situation and there was no intent," and added, "If it caused discomfort to viewers, we will be more careful going forward." The network deleted and edited the scene. It was also reported that the producers called the Park Jong Cheol Memorial Foundation to apologize. The broadcast later received an administrative guidance "recommendation" for violating the broadcasting code's decorum clause at a Korea Communications Standards Commission committee meeting held in September of the same year.
In its statement to the commission, SBS apologized and mentioned Running Man's production environment, where many episodes are edited up until the broadcast day. The network explained, "One of the production staff added the caption. Because the captioning was done late on the day of broadcast, the final result was not checked. The production team thought the perpetrator's (the then security headquarters chief Kang Min Chang, who made the false explanation) words themselves were absurd, so they used it. We pointed out the mistake to the person responsible and provided training."
Seven years later, the Running Man broadcast has been recalled again. Even though the scene was edited out, it still remains in viewers' memories. As a result, amid the recent controversy over Starbucks Korea's mocking of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, Running Man has been brought up once more.
Earlier, Starbucks Korea ran a "Tank Day" promotion on the 46th anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Uprising on the 18th and used copy such as "slam the desk!" This drew criticism that it evoked and mocked the tanks of the martial law troops that entered the site during the May 18 Democratic Uprising and the torture and death of Park Jong Cheol.
As a result, Starbucks Korea apologized and an executive at an affiliated company was dismissed, but the controversy remains heated. Actor Han Jung Soo also drew attention on the 20th by posting a cropped photo of a Starbucks card with the caption "let's not go anymore" on his personal social media. With Running Man's past controversy also exhumed, people are outraged that precedents that were not properly punished are spreading and repeating.
[Photo] SBS and social media sources.
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