'Election Re-run' Controversy: Lee Soo-ji Channel Production Team Issues Official Apology, Says It 'Failed to Consider a Sensitive Issue' [Full Text]

[Sportschosun Jo Min-jeong] As a YouTube video featuring comedian Lee Soo-ji became embroiled in controversy over a scene involving an election re-run, the production team issued an official apology and removed the problematic scene.

On the 15th, the production team behind the YouTube channel Hot Issue Ji released an official statement, saying, "We sincerely apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable and disappointed because of the video." The team added, "The scene in question was not inserted with the intent of conveying any particular political stance or social issue," but acknowledged that "using it without fully considering a socially sensitive matter was a lapse in judgment by the production team."

It went on to say, "This incident has nothing to do with the cast member's personal political views or intentions," and added, "We are also deeply sorry that our failure to review the content carefully during production caused unnecessary misunderstanding and burden for the cast member."

In the video titled "Protecting Civil Servant Kim Ji-young's Iron Rice Bowl," released on the 14th, Lee Soo-ji transformed into a civil servant named Kim Ji-young and comically portrayed a situation in which she is harassed by malicious complaints.

However, the video included a scene in which a person comes to an Administrative Welfare Center and shouts "election re-run," before being restrained by a civil servant. Some viewers argued that the scene portrayed the election re-run protest as if it were a malicious complaint.

As the controversy spread, the production team deleted the scene and promised to prevent a recurrence through its official apology.

Below is the full official statement from the Hot Issue Ji production team.

Hello. This is the Hot Issue Ji production team.

First, we sincerely apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable and disappointed because of the video.

The scene that many of you pointed out was not used with the intent of conveying any specific issue or political stance.

However, using the scene without carefully considering a socially sensitive issue was a shortcoming in the production team's judgment.

This incident has nothing to do with the cast member's personal political views or intentions, and it was caused by the production team's failure to review the content carefully during the video-making process.

We are also deeply sorry that this led to unnecessary misunderstanding and burden for the cast member.

We are taking this matter seriously and will produce content with a more responsible attitude going forward. Once again, we sincerely apologize to everyone who was concerned by this incident.

Jo Min-jeong, mj.cho@sportschosun.com

This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.