The Penthouse Racism Controversy: Angry Netizens Call for Boycott of Kim So-yeon and Kim So-yeon's Drama

By David Johnson
Updated June 12, 2021 14:21 +08

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The Penthouse season 3 has caught in a racism controversy after the introduction of a new character in the recent episode aired on Friday, 11 June. Park Eun Seok's portrayal has been slammed by the international audience for cultural appropriation.

Park Eun Seok's look, accent, and body language apparently have traits of AAVE ("African American Vernacular English") and this is seen as racial stereotyping by the international audience. Hence, they have vented out their anger against the cultural appropriation in the drama.

The netizens have questioned how Park Eun Seok, who was in the US and has awareness about racism, agreed to do the role without any objection. The viewers are extremely upset with the makers of the show for demonising the mannerisms of the black community.

The netizens have now called for the boycott of The Penthouse drama, which has Lee Ji-ah, Kim So-yeon, Eugene, Um Ki-joon, Yoon Jong-hoon, and Park Eun-seok in the leads. Many have expressed that they would not be watching the show anymore.

Ironically, the cast of the Penthouse stood up against racism ahead of its premiere. They were seen holding handprint image with the message "live together." However, the makers of the show are yet to give their statement over the latest controversy.

Check out The Viewers' Reaction:

Cyrielle⁷: The thing is that the last time black people appeared on that show, they were gangsters or butlersLoudly crying face

아이리RibbonBlossom「」StrawberryLink symbolGreen heart: Pls... did you see the Ji Chang Wook's drama Backstreet Rookie?? That drama has a similar character and they put flies in his dreadlocks making dreadlocks look dirty and there's still a lot of part of the show that's very racist so I stop watching it half way...SkullSkull

Killua Disguised face: why do things/mannerisms of the black community always gotta be demonized im tired tbh

Yasirah⁷ ʳᵐ⟭⟬ ⟬⟭ ∞Pancakes: The weird thing that his both parents are KOREANS, how tf they can create this character Loudly crying face There are tonnes of characters that they can choose but instead they choose thisExpressionless face

Arimah: Now I can't watch this show. I knew it was weird and low-key anti black when they got a bunch of black men to beat up the doctor.

joaquina polarizadah: @niahemile disgusting...south korean audiovisual is always showing no respect to black culture in general

BBintou-less Game die SUMMER QUEEN 6.17: I'm layghing bc why are they so obsessed with acting like black people? Why do they need to sct black to be tough? I hope all the mfs hair falls out from those dreads... goddamn i just have to laugh we really are thr bluepring

ᴮᴱJimin's_BUTT(ER)⁷: @niahemile I've been procrastinating on watching this show. Now I probably won't watch it

buttercups: This season is already sht now this ca, blackface and violent depiction of blk ppl ?! We need an apology cos this ain't it

heidi Optical disc: wtf like that's all I'm going to say, watch them release an apology stating they didn't know Face without mouth not watching anymore might aswell start 18 again

Ayo, Suga! ⁷Butter: @niahemile Thank god I never gave this shxt show a chance.. It was already giving me second hand embarrassment when clips would come up on here but this... pshhhh what a complete joke.

Cat faceTangerineKoala ZoroRoy: @niahemile is this a legit serious scene. Is that a legit serious charactaer. This has to be a joke wtf

Toast withButter: @niahemile The guy who plays Logan and this character was raised in New York he should know better. Smh

'jodi ⁷ ♡'s mimi: this is sick, we can't have nothing without something like this happening

SamiSunflowerBooks#8thAnniversaryofBangtan: I didn't watch a single episode guess Im not ruining my African bloodline

Seunghunlover: I really feel like crying right now is this how they really see us.....

Chli 칠리: What pisses me off more than the Blackfishing/Blackface in Penthouse is the astounding silence from KR celebrities. Last week Jay Park subtweeted a fan after he saw her Tik Tok about him they see this shit. But they don't gaf about Black people or how the racism in KR affects us.

cel: i will NOT tolerate any racism ca and ignorance for these matters ,, im literally dropping penthouse because what the fuck

lyza: I'm really mad after seeing this, literally a cultural appropriation. Penthouse was already notable after its first and second season, I haven't watched it yet but is this really necessary?

The blatant racism is fucking reeking, I really hope SBS would address this issue.

bambiBlue heart: Not The Penthouse Man facepalming. And just last week they were standing against racism

sudanesebridal: But it's okay when it come to African American people.This actor Park Eun Seok grown up in American and when given the work " oh it's okay? Like how what make you think this is acceptable? How long has it been since the whole cast of penthouse talking about "no to racism ????

moonbyjins: it's just funny how the penthouse cast were all posting about racism on their igs and they let eunseok run loose like that

BB1 15/6 KYG1 11/6 | omnia⁷ | one of igot8: When will Korean idols and actors learn that racism is .. bad. And that cultural appropriation is wrong. I'm really not understand what's so difficult about that. Penthouse get it together.

LostSoul: Man this sucks K-companies and media houses need to understand korea ain't a stranded and isolated land. They think they can do whatever they want as long as they don't offend knetz. Some idols have even danced to background of Ramzan Kareem editsWoman facepalmingWoman facepalmingWoman facepalmingWoman facepalming with no apology

Me still trying to understand how this character came in... Looking like low budget Sixine ðŸ˜¶ðŸ˜¶ðŸ˜¶... I can't please ðŸ§ðŸ§ðŸ§ðŸ§ pic.twitter.com/w87ZZkC6d4
— Vickie_K-Pop_lives_in_my_head_rent_freeâ·ðŸŒºðŸŒ¸ (@VickieBts) June 12, 2021

All I can say is dafuq?!! Was this really necessary. To make matters even worse the actor who's playing I'm guessing Logan's brother Logan's twin whatever it is is American He knows this shit is wrong. I am just tired of doing the heavy sigh when I see this shit.
— ì—ë³´ë‹ˆ ðŸ‡µðŸ‡¦ Mother of Draggings (@Jemgrl1) June 12, 2021

Black face? Look at the hands and the manâ€™s Head . Some actually looked black but the colors not matching ..... pic.twitter.com/6sWksl90SP
— N3koNeâ˜½ðŸ’ (@IDesireM0re) June 11, 2021