Blackpink Jisoo's Drama Snowdrop Faces Controversy; Sponsorship Cancelled

Jisoo Snowdrop: Blackpink Jisoo's upcoming historical drama Snowdrop is under the scrutiny of K-Netizens for allegedly distorting the history of South Korea.

The JTBC drama written by Skycastle's scriptwriter Yoo Hyun-mi stars Kim Jisoo and Jung Hae-in. The agency recently published an official statement clarifying the rumours. Read it here.

After the official statement for the cancellation of the SBS drama Joseon Exorcist on 26 March, for the use of Chinese props on its set and the distortion of history, many other shows have also come under criticism of the K-netizens. The SBS drama had almost finished the shooting of its episodes and already aired 2 episodes, but was cancelled. Similar incidences are happening with the historical comedy-drama Mr Queen, as it is being removed from all the steaming sites for allegations of distortion of historical narratives.

After the cancellation and removal of these historical dramas, the next show facing the criticism of K-Netizen's is Jisoo's Snowdrop. Blackpink and Jisoo's fans have been waiting for the release of this drama for more than a year, but it might be cancelled if JTBC doe not change the script. An incomplete script of the show was reportedly leaked which has been the cause of the heavy criticism.

Synopsis of the leaked script:

"The show is set in 1980s South Kora. Lim Soo-ho which is played by Jung Hae-in is a spy who is disguised as a college student protester. He breaks into a women's dormitory, injured and covered in blood. Eun Young-Cho which is played by Blackpink's Jisoo is a nursing student and she tries to save him and hides him thinking that he is a protester. The woman eventually falls in love with the man but later finds out that he is a spy from the "motherland". Although it is not clear which motherland they are talking about here."

The non-specification of the word motherland in the synopsis has led to several speculations and controversies. Both the main characters are said to be based on real-life protesters of the time. But the main point of the controversy is that the main head here s a spy who is disguised as a student. In the year 1987, many university students were protesting for their right to a fair democratic election but they were suppressed by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) which was controlled by the dictator of the time.

Many university students were captured, tortured and killed by the NIS under the doubt that they were spies. So the fact that the main character is a student disguised spy has hurt many people's feelings who are still fighting to this day to prove their innocence. The second male lead of the drama is a member of the NIS, which is also a subject in dispute.

All the criticism and controversy has also led to a furniture company pulling out its sponsorship from the show. Heung furniture, which is a company that signed a sponsorship contract with Snowdrop has requested for cancellation on 26 of March.

The company said, "Our company is a small company with no marketing team or management team. Thus, we did not receive detailed notice of the script at the time of the sponsorship request, and we did not have the manpower to review and proceed with it, so we agreed to sponsor the simple product without much review."

Previously, in the case of Joseon Exorcist too, sponsors started to pull out and in the end, the drama was cancelled. Fans of the show even trended a hashtag called #saveJoseonExorcist asking the makers of the show to not cancel the drama. But in the end, SBS cancelled its contract.

Regarding the ongoing controversy on Snowdrop, JTBC has released a statement saying that Snowdrop does not glamorize a spy or a member of NSP and it does not disparage the pro-democracy movement. The company denies the accusation that the drama will show a North Korean spy leading the pro-democracy movement or that a real student activist has been made the character of the drama.

"We firmly reiterate that the accusations going on about "Snowdrop" are unrelated to the drama's actual content or the production staff's intention. We ask that you refrain from reckless speculation about a drama that has not even been revealed", they said.

Regarding the ongoing controversy on Snowdrop, JTBC has released a statement