Here’s why South Korea’s cancel culture is worse than India; actors who’ve faced the repercussions

New Delhi:

Remember Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, where Ranveer Singh’s character just has an outburst on the cancel culture prevailing in India. When he felt suffocated for being honest about his thoughts, he represented several of us, too. In a time when things are liked only when its politically correct or too straightforward, it seems impossible to strike the right chord with the masses.

While we have several examples from the past, when actors and celebrities were cancelled, trolled or boycotted for things they said or got misrepresented wrongly, Indian masses have been forgiving to them too. It may be hard to differentiate whether we Indians forgive or just forget, as there’s so much to cry about; we have often seen offenders living a normal life and innocents being questioned for crimes they didn’t commit. 

South Korea’s cancel culture is severe

Be it Anu Malik turning judge on Indian Idol after being accused of MeToo or Sunjay Dutt having a biopic of all people, Indian celebrities have often led a normal life after being accused of severe crimes and even spending months in jail. However, it’s not the same case in South Korea. The entertainment industry, which is loved for its dramas and films all over the world, has often shown what are the severe repercussions of cancel culture. 

In Korea, cancel culture means boycotting famous people on social media for small mistakes and acts like dating, smoking or any controversy, for that matter. This has also ended their careers, celebs have lost their jobs, ads, projects, brands and sometimes this mental pressure has also turned fatal. Over the years, several actors have faced the wrath of this cancel culture. Let’s have a look at some of them here. 

Kim Soo-hyun

South Korea’s highest-paid actor, Kim Soo-hyun, is the latest example of this trend. ‘Queen of Tears’ actor has been accused of having a relationship with late actress Kim Sae-ron. It is being said that they started meeting each other when Soo-hyun was 27 years old and Kim Sae-ron was just 15 years old. Things got worse between the two when, even after the breakup, Sae-ron remained under the same agency as Soo-hyun. Later, Kim Sae-ron got caught in a drunk driving (DUI) case, after which the agency paid her a fine.

But according to reports, the agency later started pressuring her to return the money. Kim Sae-ron was not getting work since getting caught in the case, due to which she was unable to return the money. She had requested the agency to give her some time. But after some time, news came that Sae-ron committed suicide.

However, the same social media users who trolled Sae-ron after the drunk and driving case, which also put a dent in her career are now begging for justice in the late actor’s name. They are now trolling the same actor (Soo-hyun), who was the greenest flag in their eyes till now. Hypocrisy? Yes!

Seungri

Former member of K-pop band Big Bang, Seungri, was jailed for three years, but later his sentence was reduced to just 18 months. Seungri was accused of serious charges like rape, sexual harassment and illegal gambling. There are also videos on the internet in which he is seen violating a woman’s privacy. After which, he was trolled and boycotted for years. But it seems like his life is somewhat back to normal now. 

Lee Sun-kyun

‘Parasite’ famous actor Lee Sun-kyun took his own life because he could not prove his innocence. This happened when his drug test came negative. The actor was questioned for more than 19 hours and was found dead in his car some time later. He was accused of using cannabis without any concrete evidence, which is legal in many parts of the US, Germany and Canada.

Ji Chang-wook for trolled for smoking

Be it the aftermath of cancel culture or an extra cautious behaviour of PR agencies, but several actors’ teams have now started to apologise for things like smoking. This includes big names like BTS’s Jungkook and V, K-drama star Han So-hee and Ji Chang-wook, who faced criticism just for smoking, while it was their personal choice.

Last year, BTS rapper and producer Suga also had to face severe criticism unnecessarily in a DUI (drunk driving) case. He was driving a scooter in front of the house and fell. After this, he apologized twice, but instead of forgiving him, people on social media started demanding a boycott. Some people even said that he should be kicked out of the band.