Variety Show’s Lead Staff Member Strangles Writer On Set

On September 10, KST, the Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center and National Union of Media Workers Broadcast Writers Branch (Broadcast Writers Union) revealed that during a variety show filming in Busan in recent months, a senior staff member strangled a broadcast writer’s neck.

According to the two organizations’ reports, the incident happened during the filming of an art variety show in Busan on June 30. A director-level staff member first yelled at the main writer and strangled the neck of another writer when they tried to intervene.

The staff and the general public participating in the filming witnessed the incident on that day. However, when the six writers from the show demanded action against the staff member, the production house responded by terminating the writers’ contracts instead. They fired the entire writing team on July 9 and hired replacements.

The company has also refused to pay the writers their wages. Currently, the production management has established a new company, “Q,” and continues to produce the variety show in concern.

The Hanbit Center criticized the incident, highlighting that it was not an isolated instance but a part of a concerningly growing trend in the industry.

The labor conditions in the variety show industry are a complete mess. Just looking at the cases reported to the Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center this year, there are 80 broadcast staff from 9 different places who are owed 600 million won in unpaid wages. It is even more common for contracts to not be written. It is a reality that labor laws are not properly protected, just because a labor contract does not exist or due to irregular commuting times.

— Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center