On December 29, the 2023 SBS Drama Awards was held in Korea with the aim to honor the best works, actors, and actresses who have appeared in SBS dramas within the years.
However, after the award ceremony concluded, it has come under fire from netizens for a lineup of “controversial winners”.
In particular, many netizens were perplexed by joint winners for multiple awards. For the “Best New Actor” awards, for example, all 7 nominees were announced as winners, with the host explaining that “a special decision was made to celebrate the hard work of multiple actors who have done well in 2023”.
Additionally, some questioned the fact that Song Kang was crowned for the “Top Excellence Award” (for rom-com miniseries). According to these people, Song Kang did not act as well as his opponents – Park Hee-soon and Kim Moo-yeol, and only won due to “popularity merit”.
Ahn Hyo-seop’s win against Lee Je-hoon, Kim Rae-won, and Han Suk-kyu in the “Top Excellence Award” (for multi-season miniseries) also raised eyebrows, leading to the 2023 Drama Awards being heavily criticized.
In the end, however, the “most disappointing” announcement ended up being the one for the Grand Prize Daesang, which ended up being split between Kim Tae-ri and Lee Je-hoon. Regarding this, many viewers have expressed their frustration, claiming that to split such an award has made it lose prestige.
Below are some comments from netizens:
- Giving the Best New Actor award to all nominees is down-right unacceptable. Not to mention the 6 winners for Top Excellence Actor. Is this a free-for-all award buffet?
- The “2023 SBS Drama Awards” should be renamed into the “2023 SBS Participation Awards”
- What’s the point of holding award ceremonies if everyone is going to win??
- “Top Excellence Award” but giving it to Song Kang and Ahn Hyo-seop?? Just call it by the real name, “Popularity Awards”
- This year is the worst… Joint Daesangs feel underwhelming
- I understand that both Kim Tae-ri and Lee Je-hoon did well but this is such a pity
