The controversial Running Man “kiss game” has finally received its ruling. After 11 months of review, the Broadcast Media Communication Review Committee voted “no problem” on the segment involving actress Ahn Eun Jin — clearing SBS’s long-running variety show of sanctions.
Running Man (Credits: SBS)
What the Running Man Kiss Game Controversy Was About
The segment aired on November 23 last year, when Ahn Eun Jin and Kim Moo Jun — leads of the SBS drama Dynamite Kiss — appeared as guests. The production team ran a game parodying the drama’s title: a blindfolded Yang Se Chan received a kiss from someone and had to guess who it was, with Ahn Eun Jin selected as the kisser.
Viewers reacted badly. Netizens called the segment uncomfortable — “Isn’t this sexual harassment?”, “Is this really a game to air on a terrestrial broadcaster?” — and complaints were filed over forcing physical contact with a female guest during family viewing hours.
Why the Broadcast Committee Ruled ‘No Problem’
At the 26th Broadcast Review Subcommittee meeting, four of five members judged the segment did not warrant sanctions. Chairwoman Kim Min Jung reasoned that the participants knew the game format beforehand and that the physical contact couldn’t be seen as forced. “Just because it can be perceived as somewhat uncomfortable does not mean it falls under prohibited expression according to broadcast regulations,” she said.
The lone dissenter was Commissioner Hong Mi Ae, who pointed — per Koreaboo — in the opposite direction. The ruling closes the case but leaves the debate about variety-show boundaries very much alive.
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Source: Koreaboo — read the full story there.
