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The 61st Baeksang Arts Awards took place on May 5, 2025, and while it may have wrapped up, the discussions regarding the winners’ list are still ongoing. Among all the wins, Kim Tae-Ri’s win for Best Actress is the most talked about. She won the award for her performance in the K-drama Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, edging out a tough competition from the major actresses, including Kim Hye-Yoon, Jang Nara, and IU.
Many people thought IU would win the Best Actress award as she had given one of her best performances as Aesun and Geum Myeong in the latest Netflix K-drama, When Life Gives You Tangerines. Others believed Kim Hye-Yoon would win the title because of Lovely Runner, although the actress had already won the Prism Popularity Award for her performance in the drama. But the final judgement left many viewers upset. It sparked a debate about whether IU was snubbed in the ceremony while Tae-Ri won the Best Actress honor.
When Life Gives You Tangerines earned many accolades and critics’ appreciation, but despite that, neither Park Bo-Gum nor IU won any separate awards at the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards ceremony. Since the series was released on Netflix, it has been trending on social media and has even become one of the most loved shows of 2025. So much so that the series won the Best K-drama award at the event, but the main leads were left behind.
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Many fans expressed their anger on X (previously known as Twitter) as they thought they were equally deserving of the award. One such fan wrote, “So let’s boycott it. I also feel sad and frustrated that IU and Park Bo-Gum did not win best actor/actress.” Another user commented, “This world is full of bias and unfairness, and Baeksang proved and well demonstrated this tonight. It’s an ugly name to me onwards.”
Plenty of words and emotions to be expressed after sitting in the hall and witnessed all this with my eyes , far from being angry and disappointing but helpless and sad
This world is full of bias and unfairness , and Baeksang proved and well demonstrated this tonight. It’s an…
— Vic_dlwlrma🐥🍊 (@VicLJE) May 5, 2025
So let's boycott it. I also feel sad and frusted that IU and Park Bo Gum did not won best actor/actress.🙏🏼😭😭
— Norra Manaf (@ManafNorra) May 6, 2025
However, as the debate settled, many Korean netizens agreed that Kim Tae-Ri’s performance was too powerful to overlook. She played Yoon Jeong-Nyeon in Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born. For those who don’t know, the drama is set in the 1950s, post Korean War, when a young woman is born in a poor family with dreams of becoming a pansori (traditional Korean narrative singer). To portray the character, she not only had to act, but she also had to sing, perform, and become the character in every sense. It was pretty challenging and tough for her.
While the debate will continue among the fans, Kim Tae-Ri’s win at the Baeksang Arts Awards 2025 proved that not only star power but also artistic integrity gets honored. IU was equally deserving, but Tae-Ri’s performance was probably a notch higher. What is your verdict on this?
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