The backlash in South Korea has been so severe to Single’s Inferno star Song Ji-a admitting she wore fake designer clothing that she released a solemn YouTube apology and has been edited out of another upcoming TV show episode.
The Netflix reality dating show became one of the most globally viewed TV shows in just a few short months after release, and made Song, 25, one of the biggest stars of this year.
But The Manager, a popular Korean variety show by the same creators of the original program that The Masked Singer is based on, removed Song from an upcoming appearance after the actor acknowledged that she’d worn knockoff Dior and other counterfeit designer goods on Single’s Inferno.
“After mutual discussion with the guest, we have decided not to air Song Ji A’s footage,” read a statement released by The Manager, published by Soompi, an English-language site focused on Korean pop culture. “We will do our best to show a better side of ‘The Manager’ to viewers who support and love the program.”
Miyoung Jo, a marketing representative from MBC America, said that viewers don’t want to see Song on TV right now. While she predicts people will forgive the influencer eventually, Miyoung said, she suspects Korean audiences will not support her as much as they did previously.
“In the US, people are more open-minded,” she told BuzzFeed News. “But I think Koreans are thinking, She deceived us, etc. For me, I really don’t care about this issue, ‘cause it’s her life.”
Song, a YouTuber who is known as Freezia online, first became famous for her high-end fashion and lifestyle content. Many fans took her acknowledgment that she wore counterfeit goods as a betrayal of the lifestyle she’d advertised, proof she was as fake as her Chanel sweater.
“She’s a great example of what happens when a cheap person tries to act like they’re more luxurious than they are,” one person wrote in a fan forum.
As the backlash continued, Song deleted all posts from her Instagram, minus her handwritten apology note. On Monday, she published a video apology on YouTube — now the only video on her channel — in which she sits alone on a sofa and faces the camera, her voice nearly a whisper.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/stefficao/singles-inferno-jia-counterfeit-controversy-backlash