For the last two decades, KPop has become an international sensation.
Their music videos are widely discussed due to the flamboyant scenes and crazy storyline
that make everyone marvel.
However in a country with a history of media censorship like South Korea, sometimes these
over-the-top MVs can be frowned upon.
It's certainly understandable if the videos are banned for explicit words and imagery,
but still, there is a long list of videos that got banned for the most ridiculous reasons.
Let's review some cases that can make your eyes roll.
1.
PSY's “Gentleman” After his mega-hit Gangnam’s Style, Psy
continued to make another musical wave throughout the world with the song Gentleman in 2013.
Once again everyone was totally addicted to the catchy tune and the silly hip-swinging
movements that of course went viral.
Even South Korea’s former president gave him praise for being an exemplary image of
respecting copyright principles as he properly credited the original choreographer of the
dance.
Basically, the entire world LOVED the song... well, except for one Korean broadcaster - KBS.
Just one week after the official release of the music video, Gentleman already got blacklisted
by KBS for exhibiting a poor manner that might “disturb basic public order”.
Okay, we must admit Psy indeed displays some very “ungentleman” behaviors in that video,
so which one has offended KBS that much?
Was it because he speeds up the treadmill, making a girl fall on the floor then laughs
at her?
Was it because he farts on a girl's face?
Or was it because he unties someone's bikini?
Well, the true reason seemed way more trivial than you could expect.
Remember right from the opening sequence of the video, Psy excitedly kicks a yellow cone
then laughs hysterically into the camera?
Yep, that's the reason!
You may wonder if this is a joke, but apparently kicking a traffic cone that says “No Parking"
can be considered as abuse of public property in South Korea, and that behavior doesn’t
meet the standards of KBS.
Well, rules are rules after all.
As regards this controversy, YG Entertainment stated that they did not plan to submit a
different version to KBS and would simply follow the broadcaster’s decision.
Psy’s Gentleman has never been shown on one of Korea’s largest broadcasters ever
since.
2.
BLACKPINK's “Kill this love” You're probably startled because the most
popular girl group also 'made it' to this list, right?
Released in 2019, BLACKPINK's Kill this love reigned over every Korean chart and even made
Kpop history by becoming the highest-charting hit ever on the Billboard Hot 100 by a K-pop
girl group.
Not only that, Kill this love music video also broke the record set by Psy's Gentleman
and became the fastest video to reach 100 million views on YouTube.
Aside from all these achievements, both fans and the public all over the world are amazed
at how beautiful and well-executed the MV is.
But being an international hit did not exempt Kill this love music video from Korean censorship.
And once again it was the broadcaster KBS who put the clamp on the girls' video.
According to KBS, there’s a scene from Kill this love that exhibits a violation of South
Korea’s Road Traffic Act.
You may have guessed it’s the scene where Rosé aggressively drives toward and kills
another version of herself walking barefoot in the middle of the road.
What could possibly scream “violating road traffic act" more than that?
Well.. that’s not the real cause though.
It was actually one tiny little detail that prevented this visually arresting MV from
airing.
Do you notice, during that driving scene, Rosé isn’t wearing any seatbelt?
It doesn't matter if she’s gonna commit a murder on the street, what's more important
is that she won't hit the steering wheel or fly through the car windshield while doing
so.
What made the situation more ridiculous is that KBS only realized the lack of seatbelt
three weeks after the MV's release.
3.
WINNER's “Island” In 2017, the boy group from YG Entertainment
- Winner - made their comeback with the single album Our Twenty Four.
Island, one song from the album, is a tropical house track with a youthful, happy vibe.
While the music video only shows playful young people casually hanging around on the beach,
which shouldn't cause any problem, it somehow still landed in hot water.
After the evaluation, KBS claimed that WINNER's Island was deemed unfit for broadcasting as
it contains sexual innuendos!
The broadcaster went on explaining that the song had "obscene imagery such as intercourse
between a man and a woman” - as if that didn't confuse the fans enough, KBS added
“... or homosexuality" with no further explanation.
Yep, you are hearing it right - KBS banned both the music video and live performance
of Island because they believed the song also implied intimacy between men.
And one of the problematic lines that caused this whole quarrel is “I want to mix with
you on the sofa like you shake a cocktail”.
Fans around the world were left baffled and wondered where in that line hinted the act.
Many criticized KBS for trying way too hard to read between the lines, while some global
fans were displeased because of how people still classified non-heterosexuality as “obscene”
and prohibited it from the media.
4.
Dal Shabet's “Joker” Watching the music video of Dal Shabet's Joker,
you would have thought maybe it was banned due to the sexy choreography that could even
make girls blush.
But it seemed like the dance moves ain't the problem here as KBS clearly stated that the
repetition of the word Joker was extremely inappropriate.
They even pointed out that the line “Joker, I want it, I am out of breath, baby good night”
could be interpreted as the act of "having intercourse”.
Again, many international fans were puzzled and questioned how the broadcaster could understand
it that way.
An explanation popped up among the fandom, saying that the word “Joker" sounds like
“Choke her".
Though this may seem legit enough, the real reason is even more shocking to many global
followers out there.
So... the syllable “Jo" of the word “Joker" is pronounced very similar to a dirty word
in Korean which means… well, let's just say it refers to the male’s private part.
Yikes!
But that's not all.
The other syllable “ker" sounds a lot like the word “big" in Korean.
So next, you combine the two words together and voilà you got the reason why KBS could
not let the video air!
Now you aren't able to view DC's notorious supervillain the same as before, right?
As a result, Happy Face Entertainment later had to submit the alternative version of the
song with some lyrics changed so that their girl group was allowed to perform on KBS's
Music Bank.
5.
EXO's “Lotto" The “Nation’s pick" EXO also suffered
the same fate of censorship, and this time, the broadcasting networks who found their
music video unsuitable were not only KBS but MBC and Mnet as well.
In 2016, EXO dropped the music video for their single Lotto.
As the lyrics talk about a man feeling extremely lucky like winning the lottery after meeting
the girl he loves, the music video features various vulgar scenes of nine members gambling
all throughout, watching cockfights, betting money, burning a gigantic pile of cash and
so on.
All of those acts mentioned above could easily lead to the video being flagged by the broadcast
stations, as fans assumed.
However, to everyone's surprise, the true cause lied in the title of the song itself
- “Lotto".
As explained by KBS, the word “lotto" references a specific market product since it stands
for “lottery".
This, in turn, can be considered as “brand advertisement" and is not allowed to be used
on the station.
In respect of broadcasters' decision, SM Entertainment eventually modified the title and the lyrics
containing the word “lotto" into “louder" so that EXO could promote the song on those
networks.
6.
Orange Caramel's “Catallena" Ever since Orange Caramel debuted, the sub-unit
of sexy girl group After School have stirred up the whole nation with their quirky concept
that no one in the Kpop industry has ever tried before.
And one of their most bizarre songs is definitely Catallena where the trio became pretty mermaids
and even... sushi.
The lyrics even intrigued the public more since the three girls were singing about being
attracted to a “Catallena" woman: "She's so great, I've fallen for her/ Even as a girl."
Now you would probably roll your eyes: “Oh, another song got banned for expressing homosexuality”,
but no!
That line was completely fine.
The broadcaster KBS blacklisted Catallena for a completely different reason.
In the music video, Nana, Lizzy and Raina were seen pretending to be sushi and struggling
under plastic wraps.
Viewers may find the scene comical and even satirical, KBS however depicted it as “disregarding
human life", and thus could not be shown on national television.
No one was able to comprehend how KBS could view the scene that way, even Pledis Entertainment.
The company initially planned to file a complaint, but in the end, Pledis had no other choice
but to edit out the controversial scene.
Can you spot what's common in all of those cases?
Yes, every single one of them is banned by KBS.
This broadcaster’s standards are so strict on Kpop music videos that Kpop fans even joke
that KBS stands for Korean Banning System.