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Netflix has managed to enter controversial territory yet again, and this time they have gone international. The company has recently been at the receiving end of infamy for various reasons. At first, people were furious that they axed some beloved shows without explanation. However, the streamer's reputation only got worse after the introduction of their new password-sharing rule.
While the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strike has proven disastrous for almost every streamer, the Los Angeles Times recently reported that Netflix did not pay residuals to South Korean actors for their shows. Moreover, the story also said that the supporting actors' pay starts at $300 per episode.
Netizens on X, formerly known as Twitter, were undoubtedly shocked to learn of the company's treatment of its actors. One reacted to the news shared by Discussing Film and said:
Netflix faces backlash yet again for its treatment of South Korean actors
Since the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike kicked off, the 51-year-old actor/president of the Korea Broadcasting Actors Union, Song Chang-gon, has been trying to get a reply from Netflix. He had attempted to contact the company several times, only to be blatantly ignored.
For now, Netflix's South Korean number has been removed from the official website, but a few months ago, Song tried to contact a Netflix Korea executive. The company didn't pay the country's actors residuals and was not responding to either calls or text messages.
"One of their first priorities when entering the local market should be to establish some channel of communication with groups like us. But there's no answer at all," Song said.
Furthermore, while the biggest actors get paid an excess of $400,000 in the USA, the starting per-episode rate for supporting South Korean actors is about $300. Song Chang-gon said:
"The problem is that Netflix's big production budgets aren't evenly distributed — most of this money goes to the star actors or big-name screenwriters. For the majority of supporting actors, wages have stagnated or effectively decreased.
"Shoots for Netflix originals, especially genres like zombies or creature features, are far more labor-intensive. Actors are still expected to show up for however many shoots it takes to film one episode without enough additional compensation," he added.
The news of the streaming giant's treatment of South Korean actors has enraged the internet. This is how they reacted to the news on a post shared by Discussing Film.
From the above comments, it's safe to say that netizens were extremely upset with the streamer. They called it a terrible company and even predicted that its downfall would be similar to that of Disney+. One person was dejected that her fave K-Drama actors were being treated this miserably.
Some were astonished that a company this big was unprofessional, while one called their behavior embarrassing. A particular comment simply said that the company had become its own worst enemy.
As of June 30, 2023, the streaming giant has 238.39 million users worldwide.
