Following widespread criticism for racist depiction and cultural appropriation, the makers of SBS' The Penthouse is reportedly taking corrective measures to end the controversy. They are now making changes to Park Eun Seok's character.
A report on SPOTVNEWS, the production team has changed the hairstyle of Park Eun Seok's character. After much deliberation, they took the decision to bring changes and his new look will be revealed from the forthcoming episodes.
The Controversy
The international audience of The Penthouse had raised objection to Park Eun Seok's portrayal (Logan's brother) for cultural appropriation in the episode aired on 11 June. His accent and body language apparently had the traits of AAVE ("African American Vernacular English"). The hair, gold teeth and tattoos were seen as racial stereotyping by the viewers.
Hence, they vented out their anger against the cultural appropriation in The Penthouse season 3. In fact, they called for the boycott of the show due to which the actor had apologized on his TikTok account over the controversy.
However, the netizens are not really happy with the changes being done to his character. On social media sites, they have given a thumbs-down to the latest development.
Audience Response
Park Eun Seok's Apology
He wrote, "Regarding the drama "The Penthouse" character Alex, I'd like to let everyone know that none of the appearances that were driven by the character were falsely intentional to harm, mock, disrespect, or discourage the African-American community. I'd like to apologize to the people who took offense by the character's appearance. It was more admiration of the culture than mockery, but now I'm aware that the approach was more CA [cultural appropriation]. It was a wrong attempt for character development."
He added, "Again, I'd like to apologize to those who took offense; I as a minority myself should've known better. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to grow in awareness. I hope you have the sincerity in your hearts to give the benefit of the doubt, that Alex's appearance was rather a character approach who admired the culture and wanted to "be" like, not intentionally portraying mockery,"
