One of South Korea's top-most football clubs, FC Seoul, apologized on Monday for "causing deep concern to fans" after it used sex dolls to fill empty stands during a game on Sunday. Sports events have resumed in South Korea after about two months after they were suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.
In a Sunday game between Gwangju FC and FC Seoul, mannequins were placed to fill the empty seats, as spectators are banned from stadiums due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Some of the artificial spectators in the Sunday's game wore T-shirts with the logo of SoloS, a sex toy seller. Several held placards that advertised the company and sex websites, despite pornography being banned in the country, BBC reported. The majority of them were females, wore masks and were placed at a distance from one another, as per social distancing guidelines.
On Monday, FC Seoul issued an apology for the incident. "We are sincerely sorry for causing deep concern to fans", the apology read. But it insisted that the mannequins had no connection to sex toys, AFP reported. "We have confirmed from the very beginning that they had no connection to sex toys", it said, adding that the company which provided the mannequins had previously provided them to SoloS, hence the advertising through placards and T-shirts.
Despite the apology, the South Korean media called the incident "an international disgrace". Several social media users found the gaffe hilarious while others felt sorry for the football club.
The 2020 K-League was set to begin in February, but was postponed by two months due to the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country. It finally kicked off on May 8, but without any real spectators. Rather, cardboard cut-outs, banners and mannequins are installed to fill the empty stadium.
In Sunday's game, which was the FC Seoul's first home match held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, it defeated Gwangju FC by 1-0.
