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| President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will star in the upcoming episode of tvN's talk show, "You Quiz on the Block." Joint Press Corps |
By Lee Gyu-lee
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's scheduled appearance on the popular TV talk show, "You Quiz on the Block," has divided its viewers, irking many for inviting the powerful politician onto the show.
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| A poster for the show, "You Quiz on the Block" / Courtesy of tvN |
The talk show started off with a format where the hosts walk around different neighborhoods to invite random people on the streets for a casual conversation. But that format changed to feature guests from different backgrounds to share their stories after such random meetings with citizens became difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Various guests have been on the show, ranging from big-name stars, like Youn Yuh-jung and Lee Jung-jae, to those who have unique professions, like a copyist of government appointment letters and a digital undertaker.
The president-elect's party, the People Power Party (PPP), said that the purpose of his appearance is to "eagerly communicate with the public."
However, soon after Yoon's upcoming appearance hit the news, many viewers went online to criticize the show's production team for having the president-elect as a guest on the show.
Over 8,000 comments have been made on the show's official website, mostly expressing disapproval of Yoon's appearance.
The viewers said that it is inappropriate for the show to feature a politician, saying it distorts the purpose of the show and allows Yoon to use the popular show politically to create a favorable image of him and his party to the public, especially ahead of the local elections slated for June 1.
"I'm really disappointed at 'You Quiz on the Block.' How could they feature Yoon? They shouldn't be showing any bias toward a specific political side," a user wrote on its website.
Questioning the intentions of the PPP, another user wrote: "It makes no sense that he wants to 'communicate' with the people through a reality show … it's not like he's going to invite the public on the show to talk with them. It's obvious he's trying to use the show for publicity."
Some users even called for the network to drop the show and said they would cancel their subscriptions to its streaming service, Tving, if the production team decides to air Yoon's episode this week.
The viewers also expressed disappointment about comedian and TV host Yoo, saying that he should not be participating in what they referred to as Yoon's politically motivated projects, especially with the local elections coming up.
On the other hand, several others have shown support for Yoon and the show, saying people are making too big of a deal about Yoon's appearance.
Yoon appeared on variety shows "All the Butlers" and "Problem Child in House" during his presidential campaign.
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