KBS under investigation over suspicion of manipulating Lim Young Woong’s Music Bank broadcast score
The situation over KBS rigging broadcast scores on Music Bank has gotten serious.
According to Sports Kyunghyang on August 24th, The Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station has recently filed a case after KBS was accused of deliberately lowering Lim Young Woong’s broadcast score and manipulating his ranking on the weekly music show Music Bank. The police have reportedly been conducting an internal investigation with a KBS official. KBS also submitted the scoring criteria of Music Bank’s broadcast score and related materials to the police.
Earlier, Lim Young Woong received 0 points in an episode of Music Bank aired in May, and lost the 1st place that week to rookie girl group LE SSERAFIM. Lim Young Woong’s fan club was then outraged at the situation and asked KBS to explain the criteria to determine the winner, citing the fact that Lim Young Woong’s physical album and digital scores were both higher than LE SSERAFIM.
At the time, netizen A filed a complaint against KBS to the Korea Communications Standards Commission and the National Police Agency to request an investigation from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency over KBS’s alleged erasure of Lim Young Woong’s score.
A said, “Lim Young Woong’s song ‘If We Ever Meet Again’ was broadcast on the radio at least three times during the counting period in the second week of May, but did not even get one broadcast score.”
A added more evidence on KBS’s manipulation, saying “LE SSERAFIM appeared on KBS contents such as ‘Idol Human Theater’ and ‘Lee Mu Jin Service,’ and received 5378 broadcast points. Meanwhile, TREASURE and IVE, who appeared on the same program, only received 14 points and 21 points, respectively.“
A also pointed out that in the past, Mnet’s Produce series was a case in which the production crew was found guilty and sentenced to prison for rigging the results. A said, “The ‘Music Bank 0 point case’ is a problem of democracy and fair competition in our society.”
Source: wikitree
