The production team of MBC’s “How Do You Play?” has responded to Lee Yi Kyung’s recent statement in which he expressed his grievances about the show.
Earlier this month, Lee Yi Kyung left the cast of the variety show “How Do You Play?” in the wake of allegations about his personal life, which his agency denied. At the time of his departure, it was stated that he had voluntarily withdrawn from the show due to scheduling conflicts.
However, on November 21, Lee Yi Kyung posted a lengthy statement in which he mentioned that he had been “advised to step down from a variety show” even though the individual who posted allegations about him (“A”) had “admitted their claims were fabricated.” (Although the individual in question initially backtracked and said the post was a joke based on photos fabricated using artificial intelligence [AI], they later reversed their position, stating that all of the evidence in their post was true and they had falsely confessed to lying only out of fear.)
On November 22, the “How Do You Play?” production team released a lengthy statement of their own in response to Lee Yi Kyung. The production team confirmed that they had advised Lee Yi Kyung’s agency that he step down from the show, but stated that it had been his agency’s decision to describe his departure as a voluntary withdrawal due to scheduling conflicts.
The production team also addressed Lee Yi Kyung’s mention of a past controversy over the “myeonchigi” (noodle-slurping) technique that he displayed on the show, apologizing for having failed to fully protect him during the fallout.
Hello. This is the “How Do You Play?” production team.
We apologize to all the people who love “How Do You Play?” for giving you cause for concern through this incident. Regarding the issues in the part of the statement that Lee Yi Kyung posted on the afternoon of Friday, November 21 that pertain to “How Do You Play?”, we will speak frankly.
First, the “myeonchigi” (noodle-slurping) situation mentioned by Lee Yi Kyung was a failure on the production team’s part to protect a cast member. During filming for the Hong Kong and Japan episodes, Lee Yi Kyung, who was striving to bring laughter to viewers, improvised the “myeonchigi” situation on the spot, and at the time, the production team judged that the response wasn’t bad.
Afterwards, in an attempt to entertain viewers one more time, we asked Lee Yi Kyung to [repeat] the “myeonchigi,” but we got too greedy. During the production process, we edited out the “I’m just doing this for entertainment!” remark mentioned by Lee Yi Kyung, and due to our failure to accurately assess viewer sentiment, we hurt Lee Yi Kyung and made viewers uncomfortable. Instead of the remark that we edited out, we chose the comment and caption “For the sake of fun, once again…” instead, and we hoped to convey the message that [the situation] was intended to be viewed as entertainment for a variety show, but it seems that it fell short.
After controversy arose, we apologized to Lee Yi Kyung, and we quickly edited our explanation of the “myeonchigi” incident that was originally scheduled to air during the opening of the following week’s episode and aired it that same week instead. However, we acknowledge the production team’s shortcomings in failing to fully resolve the “myeonchigi” controversy, and we apologize once again to Lee Yi Kyung and everyone who felt uncomfortable.
Next, we will address the circumstances of [Lee Yi Kyung’s] departure from the show. With rumors about Lee Yi Kyung’s personal life being spread through the media, we determined that, given the nature of a variety program that must bring viewers laughter every week, it would be difficult for him to continue with the show.
Just as Lee Yi Kyung mentioned, the production team first advised his agency that he step down from the show, and we also stated that if his agency chose to publish the fact that we advised him to step down in the news, we would go along with that decision. Later, Lee Yi Kyung’s agency informed us that he had decided to voluntarily step down from the show due to his schedule.
As it was the production team who advised him to step down, we felt that the least we could do for Lee Yi Kyung was to ask the cast members to mention that he had withdrawn voluntarily due to his schedule, which we had agreed on with his agency, and this was relayed on air. The cast members merely complied with our request out of consideration for Lee Yi Kyung. We ask that you please refrain from blaming or making groundless speculations about the other cast members.
In the future, the “How Do You Play?” production team will more closely and carefully look over the entire production process in order so that the cast’s efforts to deliver laughter are not tarnished.
Once again, we sincerely apologize to Lee Yi Kyung, who has been hurt, along with everyone whom we gave cause for concern.