SBS’s “Running Man” Heavily Criticized for Insensitive Captioning in Their Most Recent Episode
In the most recent episode of SBS’s Running Man, the members embarked on a goods production race that led to designing t-shirts.
On the way to their next destination, the members played an intense game in order to get the highest number on the dice.
As a result, Jeon Somin and Lee Kwangsoo ended up on one team that made the others ask if they concentrated all their gold bars under one number.
In response, Jeon Somin said, “That wouldn’t be fair!” which made the other members exclaim, “So you did!” in response.
Kim Jongkook then remarked, “I think they put it all under number 1” to which Jeon Somin choked on the water she was drinking.
And at that moment, the captions read, “He ‘tapped’ number 1 which led her to choke like ‘ugh’.”
This caption was referencing the Park Jong Chul torture incident which lit the fuse of the democratization movement back in 1987.
At the time, political activist, Park Jong Chul was tortured by the police using water and electricity which ultimately led to his death.
And in efforts to conceal this incident, the police stated, “When we tapped the desk, Park Jong Chul went ‘ugh’ and collapsed to his death.”
The referencing of this incident in a comedic variety show elicited heavy criticism among viewers, and in response to the controversy, a staff of Running Man stated, “We only used it as a satire and didn’t mean to reference that incident. If this caused discomfort in our viewers, we’ll make sure to be more careful from now on.”