So, this happened on 'Gag Concert'

[frantastic.livejournal.com]

"Gag Concert" has used blackface on their most recent episode to the shock of many international viewers.

The corner “Nom Nom Nom” used it in their skit where comedian Yoo Insuk said he would buy coffee for Song Pilgeun’s girlfriend Ahn Somi. Song stated, “Our Somi only drinks Americano” in rebuttal and, to this, Yoo introduced a group of indigenous Africans from the coffee machine saying, “here is the highest quality coffee brought straight from the source.” Unfortunately, these “indigenous Africans” were represented by blackface.

The Korean media, however, focused on the fact that Hong Yeseul’s normally cute image could not be seen in this get-up as she was one of the comedians in blackface.

This was a different response from that of international viewers who were surprised, shocked, and some even offended by the nonchalant airing of what they considered racism.

As blackface has been used not uncommonly in Korean variety shows to represent those of African heritage, viewers are beginning to debate whether this is a case of blatant racism or simple ignorance.

Some past uses of blackface in Korean media include on “Saturday Nigh Live Korea” in December 2011 and most recently G-Dragon’s Instagram selca last year.

Source: ExSports News & The Korea Times via Koreaboo

Comments

[in-noctem.livejournal.com]

Gag Con is watched by quite a lot of international viewers so I hope this shit blows up and they finally realize that THIS IS OFFENSIVE.

But alas it'll probably be forgotten about in no time.

[anthonymarie.livejournal.com]

not even surprised :/ i was on a gag concert marathon the other day and they do so much similar shit like this.

[stephantasm.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised but like what?

[toshi830.livejournal.com]

you'd think someday they'd get it but then it never really happens cause they don't really care.

[cricket.livejournal.com]

The Korean media, however, focused on the fact that Hong Yeseul’s normally cute image could not be seen in this get-up as she was one of the comedians in blackface.

why am i not surprised?

why am i not surprised by any of this? Ugh.

[dharawal.livejournal.com]

oh lord, that is just so offensive on so many levels.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

So according to a Korean news outlet G-Dragon's Instagram thing is Officially Blackface?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

This article is written by koreaboo. Original article in Korea Times: "G-Dragon’s selfie of his black-painted face on his Instagram account last year also landed him in hot water."

[digitalqueen.livejournal.com]

what pisses me off is that they'll throw a hissy fit and demand apologies whenever something remotely negative about sk is said but they keep pulling shit like this on the regular.

[rally-pchan.livejournal.com]

mte

[cricket.livejournal.com]

also, it's interesting how korea - or at least the korean media - seems to care immensely about its international image when it comes to petty shit like gain being ~too sexy in psy's mv (what will the americans think???), but criticism over blatant racism is apparently nothing to worry about. in the words of ron weasley: they need to sort out their priorities.

[x3raindropsx3.livejournal.com]

[floydsastar.livejournal.com]

[sjtaazrz.livejournal.com]

Gordon is the perfect person to gif, from his anger/frustration to his deep disappointment. Why aren't there more reaction gifs of him? We need them.

[lovejae23.livejournal.com]

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

I literally just read this on r/korea on Reddit.

agh... gah i'm so tired of this happening again and again because every time something like this happens and some people (like me) mention on korean sites how terrible and offensive it is, genuinely wanting to start a discussion, but there is just no reaction. like no one comments! this just becomes a non-issue! i don't even know how to start making changes if no one cares! agh!!!

:/

[luvey.livejournal.com]

sadly you get no reaction, and it will feel like a non issue because it isn't something that directly offends nor effects them - or so they think. that is a big problem....the apathy.

the only way one can MAYBE start to get through to another is to find a comparison to associate it with that they will maybe understand...or how this issue does affect them....even then its a maybe they care enough.

thank you for you. keep fighting the fight, being open to discuss...because even if ONE person starts to get it...that is another person added to voices in this issue. especially since this won't be the last time we will see this.

[footballfina.livejournal.com]

(http://imgur.com/vSjslQy)

nope.

(http://imgur.com/sJqGt8n)

[chicology.livejournal.com]

+1

[vvipforseungri.livejournal.com]

[1111-am.livejournal.com]

lol what was she telling them not to do?

[tingl.livejournal.com]

God I was so fucking offended and pissed off when I saw the raw.

[turdferguson.livejournal.com]

this never ends. smh.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

This is so gross and tiresome.

I was thinking yesterday that people go so completely wrong when they try to be funny but are lazy and then resort to stuff like this to be "funny." So much wrong comes from lazy comedy.

[jeit91.livejournal.com]

just looked at the title, already knew it was about racism

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

Me, too.

[morgenderper.livejournal.com]

Oh god fuck them. Again and again, and again.

[mya13.livejournal.com]

are you fucking serious... i can't believe shit like this NEVER ends. who the hell gives them the idea that this is okay? idg how you can look at this and think it's funny. how can you look at this and not think something is wrong...

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

and you know what's really funny, there was a controversy three days ago over this announcer's facebook status, about how she got really tan in arizona, but she used the word kkamdoong-ie, which is a korean word to describe something black (like everyone's black dog in the countryside was named that in the old days) to describe herself, and that spurned a whole debate on whether she was being racist against black people or not, because 'kkamdoong-ie" is a korean word and it's been used for centuries to describe black things, but in the recent decades it's also been used to describe black people often in derogatory way. so was she being racist to describe her skin tone as black-y, when it's been used innocently for centuries but negatively by some people for some years?

i'm not excusing their behavior, and i'm not saying we should just dismiss it as simple ignorance, but i do think korean people are starting to care about racism nowadays (as opposed to back in the seventies), it's just they still don't know what blackface is.

i just had a discussion with someone on a korean site (like literally thirty seconds ago) and explained what i know is blackface and how that's offensive, and s/he realized how this was more than a cf parody, and how it is seen offensive, and apologized for her ignorance.

and i think discussing racism is starting to be more prevalent in korea, especially on the internet where more of the younger generation uses, but korean tv is still run by many ignorant people, most of them who are old and still finds lee bong won's blackface skit funny.

the concern is that even though internet is wide and accessible there is still this chasm of information shared by those from different cultures. google blackface or sicumuns (which refers to blackface) in korean search sites or google korea and you will not get any results that educate you about the racism behind blackface (like actually though, i just googled it). it's really frustrating for people like me (who have one foot in korean and one foot in american internet), but it's gonna take some long time before koreans even start to realize this is a problem... till then i'm just gonna see int'l fans' anger at a wall of ignorance and koreans being ignorant without even realizing there's a problem.

[ababobaby.livejournal.com]

ggamjong is what they call jongin as well. and a korean girl on tumblr said it was quite normal in korea to give nicknames like that :(

[undeniablysarah.livejournal.com]

Really, you think they would have learned by now.
Honestly just stop this behavior is gross and tiring.

[kaylaa7x.livejournal.com]

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

can we go a month without this blackface shit poppin up?

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

That's actually a lot more offensive because they even managed to tie it to colonization, way to go.

[cocodile.livejournal.com]

Didn't think it was possible to make things worse, but yikes. You're right.

[porcupinegloves.livejournal.com]

sigh, again :(