JTCB’s ‘King the Land’ is in troubled waters after they find themselves in the middle of hellfire. The hit Netflix Kdrama just dropped its latest two episodes, episodes 7 and 8, but it’s not the ratings they are worried about. King the Land is currently facing online backlash for controversial Arab misrepresentation and alleged cultural inappropriation in the show.
The Arab community quickly reacted to how ‘King the Land’ inappropriately depicted the Arab culture
Episodes 7 and 8 of the popular K-drama series ‘King the Land’ is widely receiving great reviews, but also intense online backlash and criticism. During those episodes, an Arab Prince from Dubai named Samir made an appearance as he stayed in King Hotel. Samir is one of Gu Won’s (Lee Junho’s) friends from when he was studying abroad. While staying in the hotel, Samir fell in love with Gu Won’s love interest, Cheon Sa Rang (YoonA), and created friction between him and his former friend Gu Won. But, that is not why the viewers were furious about the show.
The Arab community expressed their outrage about JTBC’s cultural insensitivity for these reasons:
- First, Samir (as shown in episode 7) was wearing traditional Arab attire while enjoying himself in a nightclub with women and alcohol. The character is portrayed as a womanizer who also enjoys barhopping and drinking alcohol. For the Arabs and Muslims, alcoholic drinks are prohibited and a man touching a woman is a big no-no.
- Second, the actor who was playing Samir was a non-Arab. He is played by Indian actor Anupam Tripathi, who also starred in another hit Netflix Kdrama series Squid Game. This once again sparked madness amongst the viewers due to misrepresentation.
- Lastly, the depiction of the character in the show seems to be damaging the Arab culture and disrespecting their cultural beliefs. Moreover, stereotyping is a thing of the past, and the producers should have known better.
https://twitter.com/forestella44/status/1678292262629826562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1678292262629826562%7Ctwgr%5E0713f8651e6047dad262bd9b202423044ac728e6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.arabnews.com%2Fnode%2F2336271%2Fmedia
I was enjoying king in the land until they decided to show that lousy guy as an “Arab”.
— Khadijah Mahuta Esq (@MrsMatawalle) July 11, 2023
King the land was such a good romcom series before ep7… like really do we still have to do these "arab" stereotypes not even talking about them casting an Indian actor as an Arab or the clothes….
— No (@selbyulie) July 8, 2023
King the land is great and all but their arab representation is a guy who came to buy warplanes and simps for every lady wow arabcore
— LazyMon (@_lazymon_) July 11, 2023
Because of the controversy, JTBC has already issued a public apology
The production team behind ‘King the Land’ responded to the online hate and backlash the show is receiving recently. Although they initially tried to defend the scene stating that “all the settings, characters, regions, and place names in the show are fictional”, they still addressed the elephant in the room and asked for forgiveness from the viewers, especially from the Arabs and Muslims.
“We would like to express our deep and sincere apology for causing unnecessary inconvenience to our viewers without full consideration of other valued cultures although we have no intention of caricaturing or distorting any particular country or culture in the process. It has been our sharp realization that there has been a lack of understanding, experience, and consideration for other cultures. We will do our best going forward to create content that can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of where they are from and what kind of culture they have. [We] will take a thorough look into the part of the video which was considered problematic, and do our best to make sure that the right measures are taken. We earnestly promise to our viewers that more care will be taken down the road so that there will be no inconvenience in viewing our content.” – JTBC
Did you find this article helpful? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. For more content, stay with us here at Spiel Times. Make sure you subscribe to our push notifications and never miss an update. You can also follow us on Spiel Anime, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Until next time!
