Lee Hyori has gotten some backlash from Chinese netizens for her comments on MBC’s “How Do You Play?”
Recently, MBC’s “How Do You Play?” aired an episode where Lee Hyori had a meeting with producer Jimmy Yoo (Yoo Jae Suk) to discuss the project group she is setting up with Uhm Jung Hwa, Jessi, and MAMAMOO’s Hwasa.
During their conversation, Lee Hyori suggested they go global when discussing a possible stage name for herself,
‘How about a Chinese name, since we could go global? how about Mao?’
This comment angered Chinese netizens because the name sounded like of Mao Zedong. Her Instagram was bombarded with comments by Chinese netizens asking her to apologize and to acknowledge she made a mistake, some of them even translated their comments to Korean on her Instagram posts.
In reaction to the backlash, the show released an official statement addressing the situation, they stated,
“During the episode that aired on August 22, we were made aware that some international viewers felt uncomfortable with the name ‘Mao,’ the name came up as Lee Hyori was discussing choosing a stage name.
We had no intention of referring to a specific individual that people mentioned in their concerns, and we have edited out that part from VOD replay services to stop any more misunderstandings from forming.”
The show explained that Lee Hyori has chosen a different stage name for her character and promised to be more sensitive in the future.
What do you think of this?
