[2015 KDrama] Lee Tae Im vs. Yewon Scandal - my 2 cents

I swear, I was studying... then got distracted by the news :P cuz I saw a name I recognized:
Lee Tae Im (below may abbreviate to LTI)! O_O"
I came to know her when I went back to Taiwan in 2010 (after highschool graduation). Yeah, time flies. At that time, she was the heroin in Don't Hesitate - a pretty good Korean drama (for the older people though haha, think it was a morning daily drama in Korea). It was airing on TV and right after I came back from Taiwan, I downloaded the whole series from Tudou and rewatched it.
Look~ how pretty she looked, how handsome the guy ( Lee Sung Woo) was, and how sweet the couple was?
Then after this drama, she started going changing into a sexy star and she didn't have much screen time on the following drama - so I lost my interest (and kinda forgot about her)

Apparently, she had got into a pretty big "scandal"
Beginning of March, the news leaked (from Dispatch) that she raged and swore at Yewon (former Jewelry member) an idol who is 3 yrs younger and a junior then stormed off the set. Her unprofessional behaviour received a lot of criticism and a media persecution was launched. The whole thing got blown way out of proportion. I didn't know this news then, so I don't know how harshly she was described. - if you want to know more, read some news articles (like this one)- google is your bff ;) .

As a response to all the netizen's anger, LTI issued an apology. She explained in an interview that she was provoked when she felt looked down upon by Yewon who spoke in informal speech. She announced that she will leave the current show. Her parts in her new drama was also cut...

As all the Korean fans should know, Koreans values seniority and they highly regard usage of the proper form of language to treat people different from your age as basic manners. Only people who'd be treated more kindly when making mistakes on this matter are foreigners. Unless the senior (anyone older than 1 yr) agrees to a junior to speak in informal (banmal)  language, a junior should NEVER use informal language with a senior. It is the culture and social conduct- NO ONE should say that it's unreasonable to have this system in place. Yes, in a westerner's point of view respect should be EARNED, however, if you consider that for them, using formal language as basic manners, it is not hard to understand why some Koreans gets so angry when the rule was broken. Taiwanese system regarding seniority is much more like the western world, but that is because the modernization of mandarin (to decrease difficulty of the language) eliminated the necessity of speaking formally in daily, casual life in most cases - we still use formal language towards important elders, work supervisors, etc.

Anyways, Yewon's agency (Star Empire) decided to combat by saying she did not use banmal and was only caring for LTI - asking if she was cold and handed her a towel (LTI said the latter did not happen) before she got cursed. Her agency stated that was crying after she got cursed by LTI (which LTI also said did not happen).

Ok. So basically we have LTI, the evil, crazy B**ch who cursed / swore/ verbally abused the angelic Yewon, whose agency issued statements that refuted LTI's claims AND she personally wrote a letter to accept LTI's apology.Everyone on the show's production team, media, onlookers were all on Yewon's side.

Now that LTI's career seems to have been ruined. Guess what? Someone (judging by the video that was leaked) on the show's team (a staff from MBC) released a video clip showing the incident on a social site in Korea = BOOM! Table turned SO FAST.
Angelic Yewon --> Sly Fox who lied in everyone's face and played an innocent card - Liar, manipulative, idol image ruined, should apologize and go reflect
LTI --> had a bad day, although provoked, unprofessional, unable to contain herself - bad EQ + IQ, got what she deserved alright, apologized and reflecting now



[ENG SUB] Video of Lee Tae Im and Yewon Conflict by javieratutu--

There's not really any English SUB, but the translation is here: (reference from my poor Korean and this site )
Note: LTI is the senior, so she speaking informally is socially correct and acceptable - she used that form throughout.
My comments are in green
LTI just came out of the freezing cold ocean (the show made her dive in March, it's freezing...- we'll discuss this later) and had a shower.

LTI: Hello~
(She greeted Yewon quite nicely, I think)
Yewon: Are you cold? (formally)
(when your senior greets you, you should greet them back, seriously...? even in other parts of the world, shouldn't u say hi back first? Plus, your co-worker just came out from ice-cold ocean, this is all you had to say? it's your way to show concern?!)
LTI: It's so cold. Do you want to go in, too?
(honestly, I think she got a little worked up here, already. I mean, if it was me, I'd just say, "yeah" and stop talking to this kid. She obviously don't show concerns for me and I really don't think I'd wanna talk to her at this point.)
Yewon: No way (informal)
(this is not a simple no in the translation sites - it's NO WAY, if you watch K drama's enough, you'd know. OMG. I'd be so angry even if she had said this in formal language, let alone informal one.)
LTI: You don't like it? Just like watching someone else do it?
(it's quite clear LTI doesn't like what she's been forced to do on the show... who can blame her for being a bit upset- it's freakin' cold- I think she just wanted to let out a bit of her anger at this point. Yewon should've just politely decline and remain silent.)
Yewon: No. No (informally)
(great, she has totally pushed that button.) 
LTI: why are you talking informally? Are you looking down on me?
(At this point, the senior has already expressed dismay- an apology would've been more wise= =)
Yewon: No (sounded formal) , no (informal). It's because it's cold (formally). No (formally)
(Really? Really? LTI already expressed her discontent, you still spoke informally? And that stare and the joking expression - wow?! This is NOT the way you deal with this situation. If put into Japanese term, she's KY - can't she read the air? Anger was clearly expressed on LTI's side. Denying it and said it's because it's cold?)
Yewon: Older sister (this is how Koreans girls call girls older than them- it's manners), you don't like me, right? (formally)
( O_O" If this isn't rude, I don't know what is... why would you ask someone this if you weren't trying to pick a fight- especially to someone you're senior?! I mean, it could only go 2 ways: 1. the person lies, held the anger and denies then walk away 2. full blown anger and an argument)
Then starts LTI's rant / curse/ whatever she said, her voice was not really recorded on the clip. Apparently it was something along the lines of F*cks and B*tches and how Yewon think she's the greatest.

 In the end, when LTI was escorted away by the staff - Yewon didn't cry... she looked up and down and said LTI was a "crazy woman" (  I'm being nice here, it really sounded kinda like she said B**ch instead of woman - we'll let that slide)

HAHAH, I personally swears a lot (in English, don't do it as much in Mandarin [bigger deal]) , and my Korean friends swore a lot in highschool, too (girls do it less, though, guys swears ALL THE TIME). So I didn't think it's a big deal, maybe it's only a big deal when celebs do it- but in entertainment industry, apparently everyone swears a lot off screen (the production staff, especially). Her reaction was too much, obviously - she did kinda sound like a crazy b*tch.
Both sides are at fault. The real scandal now is how Yewon's side covered all this up and LTI's side took all the blame for the past month.

The fact that MBC and the staffs were covering for Yewon make me think they wanted to get rid of LTI (given by her temper, she could have been a pain on set). If not so, they could have covered up the argument - it wasn't a live show, but they chose to let the public know of this incident. With this, they have to protect Yewon and promote for her appearance on We Got Married (another MBC variety show). 2 birds with 1 stone, why not.

From LTI's statements and the way she reacted, she obviously felt disrespected as her onscreen persona is more of a "sexy" women (well, from her newest film, more like a porn star after her film in 2014). She was probably treated rudely and indecently (given how Asians regard these actresses who "sells their body", I'd say she definitely gets a lot of those). Some news also rose the question of how variety shows had mis treated the talents/ entertainers/ celebrities. They are also human! Making someone go into the ocean just for viewer's rating is ridiculous. Yes, she consented to it, but was it really a choice? If she had refused, she'd be labelled as "difficult", "giving an attitude". "who does she think she is?".  - So she had definitely been holding all these angers in - Yewon's poor manner happened to pushed that button at the right time.

I feel sad that two female celeb's futures were ruined over a stupid cat fight = =
 - they will probably never be popular again in the industry (RIP). I thought LTI would have a chance to star in mini series from her image back in 2010. It's proven she just wasn't smart enough for it and her agency isn't strong enough to back her up. Now, given her inability to handle stress- she probably isn't made to make it big in the industry anyways. At least, with this leaked video, she doesn't have to be "exiled" from the industry.

Yewon... she needs to apologize and show remorse (or pretend like it) - ppl on the net are enraged (ppl hate being lied to, it's true. Especially when they totally made a fool out of themselves by supporting you before the leak.)

If only MBC had concealed this incident from the start...

Too late. Damage done. Yewon- idol no more. LTI- heroine no more. Shame. They are both good at acting.

I need to go heal myself with some Fukakyon stuff~
ttyl

bye bye~ ★