Vincenzo Starring Song Joong-Ki & Jeon Yeo-been Once Caught In A Controversy Over Featuring ‘Bibimbap’ As A Chinese Product Fuelling Feud Between China & South Korea, The Lead Actor Later Apologised!
There was a time when Song Joong-ki starrer Vincezo got caught in a controversy over its Chinese & Korean food culture. Read!
When Vincenzo Starring Song Joong-ki Got Into A Controversy Over Showing A Chinese Product Fuelling Feud Between China & South Korea (Photo Credit: IMDb)
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Vincenzo is one of the most-watched thrilling K-dramas of 2021, starring Song Joong-ki and Jeon Yeo-been as the lead characters. However, despite ranking fourth on Forbes’ list of most-streamed K-dramas in 2021, the series got caught into a controversy, leading to the deletion of a scene from the show. Yes, that’s right. Scroll ahead to get to the scoop.
K-netizens and viewers of South Korea were divided in their views on that one particular scene. Later, the lead actor, Joong-ki, even issued an apology regarding the matter. Apart from that, the show has been received widely across the globe with a lot of appreciation. ‘The audience also appreciated the Descendants of the Sun actor and Yeo-been’s chemistry.
Coming back to the controversy. Apparently, in the eighth episode of Vincenzo, the male lead character, Vincenzo Cassano (Song Joong-ki), and the female lead Hong Cha Young (Jeon Yeo-bin), were seen eating a bowl of ‘bibimbap’ (a dish made with rice, sauteed veggies some spices and sauces) from a Chinese brand Zi Hai Guo, which is not that available in South Korea’s local markets, fuelling the feud between China and South Korea.
There have been a lot of times when China and South Korea got into loggerheads over the origin of some traditional dishes like Kimchi or even dresses like Hanbok. Following that, Vincenzo was under strict scrutiny for featuring a Chinese PPL (Product Placement), which led the makers to remove that scene from every streaming platform.
Even though it was not the actors’ fault, later, Song Joong-ki, in one of his interviews, addressed the controversy and issued an apology. As quoted by Koreaboo, Joon-ki said, “It’s not just the main actors who pay close attention to the product placement…I thought that it could be a good thing for actors to be present to discuss such topics. It is true that there was a PPL controversy in the middle of our drama production. The controversy was an outwardly issue with the drama so we worked even harder to ensure that the drama would be perfect from within. I believe that there were many people who were disappointed because of the PPL controversy. With that said, I feel that it is only right for me as the lead actor to apologise.”
Well, did you know that Vincenzo faced such a controversy after its release? Have you watched Vincenzo yet?
