The famous band Coldplay is set to perform in South Korea for the first time in 8 years, while Na Kyung-won, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, is facing criticism from fans after posting a video that edits footage from the concert for promotional purposes.
On the 21st, a short video tagged with '@coldplay' was uploaded on Na's YouTube. It is an edited clip of the concert of Coldplay's world tour 'Music of the Spheres' held on the 18th at Goyang Sports Complex in Goyang City, where vocalist Chris Martin mentioned the impeachment situation of the president of South Korea.
Martin said at the time, 'Why is it that every time we come to Korea, there is no president?' before pointing to drummer Will Champion, saying, 'I want to recommend this person for president.' Coldplay also performed in South Korea about a month after former president Park Geun-hye was removed from office in April 2017.
Na's camp added a caption to the video saying, 'I will decide one next president. It's Na Kyung-won who did the drum barrel challenge,' and replaced Will Champion's face with Na's. Following this, the captions continued, 'Na Kyung-won goes to the final four, goes to the final two, is the final candidate, is the president,' and the video ends with Na stating, 'Thank you, Coldplay. I will definitely be there at the next concert.'
The shorts posted by Na's camp received critical comments such as, 'Isn't this copyright infringement?' and 'There's no excuse if Coldplay sues.' In response to this backlash, Na's camp commented that it was 'a simple promotional video unrelated to Coldplay's intentions.' However, demands from fans to take down the video continued.
There were also opinions stating that the video was inappropriate, citing Coldplay's advocacy for progressive values. One internet user remarked, 'It's hard to call this a simple promotional video when it contradicts the direction Coldplay has pursued,' and urged, 'Take down the video and apologize to Coldplay.'