[Sportschosun Reporter Min-jung Cho] Actress Jeon Won-joo is preparing to resume her YouTube activities with a new production team after her remarks about appearance fees were followed by a decline in subscribers. Attention is focused on whether the channel, which halted operations after the entire previous production team stepped down, can overcome the controversy and win viewers back.
On the 14th, Jeon Won-joo’s representatives said that she had recently assembled a new production team and was preparing to resume operating the YouTube channel ‘Jeon Won-joo-in-gong.’ The specific date for releasing new content has not yet been set, but the plan is to resume filming and uploading videos once the reorganization is complete.
Jeon Won-joo herself also expressed her intention to return. In a video posted on actress Sa Mi-ja’s YouTube channel, ‘Sa Mi-ja, Not Omija,’ on the 11th, Sa Mi-ja asked, "I heard you were taking a break from YouTube for a while. It was fun, so why are you taking a break?" Jeon Won-joo replied, "I’m going to start again now."
However, remarks about her appearance fee made during the exchange triggered an unexpected backlash. Jeon Won-joo said, "When I tried to raise this—the money—they said they would quit, so I told them we should just continue," adding, "I actually considered quitting too, but I thought I shouldn’t be too demanding. Now I’m just going to give it a try."
The ‘this’ mentioned in her remarks was reportedly a reference to her appearance fee. As a result, speculation spread that Jeon Won-joo’s request for an appearance-fee increase may have been behind the halt in channel production. Some subscribers reacted negatively to the notion that Jeon Won-joo, known as a well-known penny-pincher in the entertainment industry and a wealthy person with assets worth tens of billions of won, had tried to raise her own appearance fee.
Online critics said, "She should think about the production team’s labor and production costs first," and "It seems like she talks about money too often."
Some viewers also publicly announced that they intended to cancel their subscriptions. The channel, once described as having about 120,000 subscribers, had approximately 115,000 as of the afternoon of the 14th.
The former production team of ‘Jeon Won-joo-in-gong’ had previously announced its departure through the channel’s community page on August 24. The team said, "We are saying goodbye because the production team that created and operated the channel from its launch until now will no longer produce ‘Jeon Won-joo-in-gong,’" and expressed gratitude to Jeon Won-joo and the subscribers who had been with them over the past year.
After the sudden announcement prompted speculation about Jeon Won-joo’s health and rumors of conflict with the production team, the team and her agency clarified that it was simply the end of a contract and part of a reorganization for a channel renewal. They also explained that Jeon Won-joo was in good health and had no problems continuing her broadcasting activities.
The channel grew rapidly after releasing its first video in October last year, focusing on Jeon Won-joo’s daily life, frugal habits, and family stories. It released more than 100 videos over approximately 10 months, and its cumulative views surpassed 70 million. However, no new content was uploaded for more than two months after the home-organizing video released on July 7.
Min-jung Cho mj.cho@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
