River Where The Moon Rises - Ji Soo Now, male actor Ji Soo has been a familiar
face to Kdrama lovers for years.
Always the charming second male lead, we have seen him in famous series like Strong Woman
Do Bong Soon and Moon Lovers, so everyone had been anticipating the day the actor played
the male lead.
Which finally happened in 2021 - as Ji Soo nailed a leading role in the period drama
River Where The Moon Rises.
However, the joy didn’t manage to last for long, and in March of 2021, the once-charming
actor was caught up in a list of controversies that shocked the entire K-drama community.
From sexual abuse to school violence, various victims spoke up against Ji Soo, and the controversies
got so bad, the actor ended up being removed from his long-awaited male lead position.
Now, if you are wondering how bad the situation was at the time, TV channel MBC had dedicated
a whole special program called True Story to unfold Jisoo’s dark past.
Apparently, the actor had allegedly extorted money from fellow schoolmates, beaten them
up should they dare go against him, forced people to do his tests, and was basically
“unstoppable”.
The actor was also accused of forcing other students to be his clowns, his servants, his
minions, and victims claimed that they were still “terrified” of him despite it having
been years.
And the result of this scandal?
Well, the actor had been sent packing, despite ‘River Where The Moon Rises’ having finished
95% of its filming.
Worse, the drama was already on air for 5 episodes, so everything had to be refilmed,
re-edited, and Na In Woo - the actor that replaced Ji Soo, along with the female lead
Kim So Hyun, had to act over 30 scenes a day.
Meanwhile, Ji Soo joined the military, which basically means he will disappear from the
entertainment industry for at least two years to come.
His abrupt exit from ‘River Where The Moon Rises’ also ended in huge disputes, the
production team demanding for a 3-million-won compensation.
Unfortunately, while Ji Soo had been cleared of the sexual harrassment claims, for now,
his bullying scandal stands.
It didn’t help that Ji Soo’s contract with his company expired the same year, so
he’s going to be on his own in this battle.
Sponsor - Lee Ji Hoon Speaking of River Where The Moon Rises, if
you had watched the series, you’d probably remember actor Lee Ji Hoon - who played the
female lead’s mentor, as well as a candidate for her heart.
He has gained a certain following after the series ended, which helped him in gaining
a leading role in the iHQ drama ‘Sponsor’.
However, Lee Ji Hoon’s career is heeding upon a rocky path, seeing that he’s now
pushed from male lead to supporting role, after getting entangled in a power abuse controversy
on the set of ‘Sponsor’.
To elaborate, in early November 2021, Lee Ji Hoon got involved in a scuffle between
the floor director and a friend who came on set unannounced.
Shortly after, said director posted on social media, accusing Ji Hoon of calling a “thug”
to the set, who verbally thrashed at and even threatened the staff with violence.
Ji Hoon meanwhile, denied the accusation, rushing to explain that it was just a mere
misunderstanding, and his friend only came on set to celebrate the actor’s birthday.
The issue soon died down, and the two sides reconciled, but that’s only the start of
troubles.
Soon enough, other accusations popped up, accusing Ji Hoon of being unprofessional and
arriving late to filming, inconveniencing everyone.
A couple of screenwriters, as well as staff members also added to the fire, claiming that
they lost their jobs since the actor complained about this lack of screen time.
However, Ji Hoon’s agency quickly refuted their claims, explaining that Lee Ji Hoon
received a script completely different from what he was promised, and only spoke out against
it.
In the end, the accusations stopped, but Ji Hoon was suddenly not present at the series’
press conference earlier this year, while promotional pictures also excluded him, despite
still presenting his co-stars Han Chae Young and Koo Ja Sung.
The actor had apparently been “demoted” to being the second, instead of the first
lead like initially announced, and needless to say, this left Ji Hoon’s fans at a loss
for words.
Taxi Driver - Lee Na Eun For our next case - let’s look into the
popular series Taxi Driver, which also shares the burden of having to replace a main character
due to bullying scandals.
We all love actress Pyo Ye Jin as the master hacker Ahn Go Eun in this series, but her
appearance had actually been a last minute decision!
Now, to understand what exactly happened, it’s important to look into the idol-actress
Lee Na Eun, who you might have spotted in A-Teen and Extraordinary You.
She was supposed to play Go Eun, and even attended script reading sessions as well as
finished filming for a lot of scenes.
However, one month prior to the drama’s airing, a notorious scandal exploded across
the net, wherein Na Eun’s group April was accused of mistreating their former member
Lee Hyun Joo.
The allegation started from the younger brother of Hyun Joo herself, who claimed that April
had relentlessly bullied his sister, to the point that Hyun Joo suffered from panic attacks,
and eventually tried to end her life.
According to him, April had constantly taken his sister’s possessions without asking,
cursed her, acted rudely towards their parents, and always singled Hyun Joo out.
He also attached his sister’s medical records, which showed clearly her mental sufferings.
As a result, April was under fire from the public, and Na Eun suffered the recurpression.
It didn’t help that her past posts and photos - where she flipped people off and used bad
words - were dugged up, smearing her image further in the public eyes.
And, faced against heavy public pressure, on March 10th, the production team of Taxi
Driver finally decided to remove the idol-actress from the cast and replaced her with Pyo Ye
Jin.
It was a welcomed move, as the public was ready to have Na Eun be completely removed
from the industry.
This, however, also means that the crew had to reshoot 60% of the finished footage, and
Pyo Ye Jin had to work tirelessly to film around 40 scenes a day.
Her hard work had paid off, however, as Taxi Driver was madly successful, and Pyo Ye Jin
received constant praise for her acting skills.
What about Na Eun, you ask?
Well, her and her agency had since pushed forth various rebuttals towards all accusations,
claiming innocence for the group.
Whether they can sway the public’s opinion, however, remains an unanswered question.
School 2021 - Ahn Seo Hyun & Kim Young Dae -
Well, all the above cases had been when actors were forced to quit due to scandals, but how
about occasions where they left themselves?
For this, there’s no better example than School 2021 and its endless casting dramas.
First, we had the series’ issue with the young actress Ahn Seo Hyun, who was allegedly
casted to be the female lead.
However, in March 2020, KBS announced that Seo Hyun is not joining their series due to
her father’s “excessive demands”, while the actress’s side retaliated, saying that
they had been forcefully removed.
The result?
An endless back-and-forth battle, leaving the drama, which was supposed to air in 2020,
in a standstill.
But this is not the end of the problem, as upon July 2021, School 2020, now renamed School
2021, saw another main cast dropped out.
This time it was actor Kim Young Dae, who, according to KBS, had left in a “one-sided
decision”, thus affecting many in the production process.
Meanwhile, Young Dae’s agency OuterKorea, told a different story.
According to them, the production company failed to pay cast and staff, changed the
script without the actor’s knowing, resulting in Young Dae’s character turning out completely
different from what he was promised.
The arguments never saw results, but on a positive note, every party of this scandal
came out alright.
School 2021, for starters, had found different actors, and aired as planned, though not as
successful as other series in the School franchise.
Meanwhile both Seo Hyun and Young Dae got picked for new projects, with the horror film
Oh!
My Ghost for the actress and the upcoming series Shooting Stars for the actor.
At least there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.
Return - Park Hye Eun Finally, let’s approach a quite curious
case - as the rookie actress Park Hye Eun had to leave the tvN drama ‘Return’ due
to, quote, her “poor acting skills”.
There’s… not much to say about the situation, since the news just dropped suddenly in July
2021.
The reason for why she left though, left netizens jaw-dropped, turning on to the production
team for being too harsh on the actress.
They believed that by directly saying that her acting is poor, the ‘Return’s team
basically just ruined an emerging actress for life.
“They [the production team] choose her in the audition/cast her in the first place…
What kind of bullsh*t excuse is this?”, “The production team and the media are so
wrong for this.
I wish the drama flop so bad” - comments like this filled up every single article,
signaling the public’s fury.
Some even called out the team for being hypocrites, as ”there’s no one good at acting in the
lineup..?
Except for Lee Jae Wook” They even speculated that Ye Eun was only
kicked out to make way for a bigger star.
. And that’s the list.
What are your thoughts regarding these situations?
Do you think these actors and actresses should be replaced?
Let us know in the comment section.
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