"How Do You Play?" Responds To Criticism Regarding Suggestion For Lee Hyori's New Girl Group Stage Name
MBC’s “How Do You Play?” has issued a statement in response to criticism from Chinese viewers regarding a suggestion for Lee Hyori’s stage name for the project girl group “Refund Expedition.”
The episode that aired on August 22 showed Lee Hyori having a one-on-one meeting with producer Jimmy Yoo (Yoo Jae Suk) about the project girl group she is setting up with Uhm Jung Hwa, Jessi, and MAMAMOO’s Hwasa.
During their conversation, Lee Hyori shared that she hadn’t come up with a stage name yet. She said, “How about a Chinese name, since we could go global? How about ‘Mao’?” In response to this, Chinese viewers of the show expressed their discontent as the name was reminiscent of Mao Zedong.
The show released an official statement on August 24 that reads as follows:
Hello, this is the staff of “How Do You Play?”
We were made aware of the fact that some international viewers felt uncomfortable with the name “Mao” that came up while choosing Lee Hyori’s stage name during the episode that aired on August 22.
Although we had no intention of alluding to the specific individual mentioned in people’s concerns, we have edited out that part of the program from VOD replay services to stop any more misunderstandings from forming.
Also, Lee Hyori has chosen a different stage name for her character.
We will work hard to be more sensitive and careful in the future.
Watch the latest episode of “How Do You Play?” below:
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article reported that Yoo Jae Suk suggested the name. This has been corrected.
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