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Back in January, the historical drama The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won, took a two-week break from airing after being caught up in animal abuse issues. As per recent reports, the K Drama is still not airing its upcoming episodes for the third consecutive week.
What is the controversy around The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won?
The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won stars Joo Sang Wook and tells the story of how he helped his father overthrow the Goryeo Dynasty in order to establish the Joseon Dynasty.
The controversy took place due to the seventh episode of the series, which aired on January 1, 2022, where Lee Seong Gye (Kim Yeong Cheol), the founder of the Joseon Kingdom, is seen riding a horse from which he accidentally falls.
To get this scene in this particular order, ropes were tied around the horse’s leg and he was pulled to the ground forcefully. A clip of the scene was then released by the Korean Animal Welfare Association, where the horse was seen hitting the ground with a great force post which it found difficult to get back up.
The video soon went viral and caused a public uproar, which only increased when it was revealed that the horse passed away after filming the above-mentioned scene. This led to many demanding the cancelation of The King of Tears.
KBS has publicly apologized
As reported by The Korea Herald, the broadcaster has apologized in its statement wherein they acknowledged that they came to know about the horse’s death a week after they filmed The King of Tears’ seventh episode.
"During the actual filming, an accident occurred in which the actor was thrown hard from the horse and the horse’s upper body struck the ground with great force. After the accident, the horse got up under its own power, and we checked to see that it had no external injuries before returning it.
Admitting complete responsibility for the incident, they further stated:
However, as viewers recently began to express concern for the horse’s current condition, we checked the horse’s condition again, and we regret to say that the horse died about a week after the filming occurred. We cannot help but take serious responsibility for this unfortunate incident that has occurred.”
They also made the decision not to air the next two episodes, along with the special ones they had planned to release in February.
"Due to the ongoing controversy, the two episodes scheduled to air this Saturday and Sunday will be cancelled."
But apparently, the apologies haven’t been enough to end the controversy. As per recent updates, filming of The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won has ceased indefinitely as their production setup and the necessary guidelines in place are being strictly inspected.
Currently, neither the production team nor the cast members have any idea when or if the filming of the series will resume. As for the controversial scene itself, the seventh episode is no longer available for streaming on the series’ official website.
