With regards being linked in some controversies, tvN's brand new historical drama Mr. Queen's production team recently released a statement to clarify the issue.
Mr. Queen tells the story of a man living in the present modern time whose spirit somehow finds its way and was trapped into the body of a Queen living in the Joseon dynasty period.
This is a remake of the original Chinese web drama Go Princess Go, and the story was based on a novel penned by a writer who negatively criticized Korea in another work. Due to this, Mr. Queen received criticism from some people for adapting the novel written by a writer who gave negative comments about other Korean works.
Another controversy that made a buzz was in a script in the drama's second episode wherein a character referred to The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty as merely jirashi. For those who are not familiar, The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty are the annual records of the dynasty and are named the 151st national treasure of Korea.
Meanwhile, Jirashi is a form of a newsletter that consists of unconfirmed private information, which may include rumors and speculations. In short, the information in a Jirashi may be false or made up.
On Dec. 15, the statement issued by Mr. Queen production team expressed their sincere apologies for the said controversy. First and foremost, the drama's production team expressed their deepest gratitude to the viewers who support and love the drama, so they decided to explain their side regarding the viewers' opinions through this statement.
They explained that Mr. Queen is a creation that was planned after obtaining the remake televising rights for the web drama Go, Princess, Go, which was a drama broadcasted in China by their production company. To make it clear, what was purchased from the production company was the remake televising rights for the web drama and not the original novel.
Also, at the time of signing the contract, the production team was not aware of the issue about the novelist who wrote the original work that the web drama Go Princess Go was based on. The novelist said that it might have negative comments about Korea in another work, Princess Amity.
The production team also expressed that they sincerely ask for an apology from the viewers. They are planning to do everything they can so that the viewers will not feel uncomfortable with the drama. Regarding the line about The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the production team seriously accepts the fault, and they have already deleted the narration that caused the problem. And also, for other historical figures and incidents, there is no intention to represent them negatively.
To conclude the statement, once again, the Mr. Queen production was deeply sorry for causing discomfort to the Korean public, and that they'll make sure to pay closer attention in production moving forward to prevent any future mishaps like this.
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Written By: Sam Yap
