He is the host, but the viewers can barely see him. Park Bo Gum showed his face for only five minutes during the 2022 MAMA Awards ceremony which went on for more than three hours.
The 2022 MAMA Awards wrapped up its two-day award ceremony held in Kyocera Dome Osaka, Japan, on the evening of November 30th. Earlier, Jeon So Mi hosted the first day of the awards ceremony, while Park Bo Gum hosted the second day and was in charge of the ending.
In MAMA, the host plays a big role. As a messenger that connects artists and global fans and a storyteller that conveys the value of the award ceremony, representative artists of the era, such as Song Joong Ki, Lee Seung Ki, Song Seung Heon, Psy, Lee Byung Hun, Lee Hyo Ri, and Jung Hae In, have appeared as hosts of MAMA award ceremonies.
Fans were delighted to hear the news of Park Bo Gum being selected as the host. Park has hosted the awards ceremony for 3 consecutive years from 2017 to 2019, and this would be the 4th time he has hosted the event so far. Expectations were high on what kind of progress he would show this time due to his long history with MAMA
However, many were confused right from the start of the second day of the awards ceremony. As the host, Park Bo Gum is supposed to be the one who open the festival with his speech, but Lee Byung Hun, not Park Bo Gum, appeared in the video and introduced the message of MAMA. This is different from Jeon So-mi’s appearance in the opening video on the first day of the awards ceremony before she came up to the stage to deliver her greetings. Park Bo Gum only appeared in front of the camera after the stages of Tiger JK, Stray Kids’ 3RACHA and Jung Jae-il to give his opening remarks. However, he was on the screen for only about 2 minutes.
Park Bo Gum only reappeared at the beginning of the third part, but disappeared again after 30 seconds, and after another hour of absence, he was on stage for the ending remarks. His total screen time was less than 5 minutes long. Fans then understand why Park Bo Gum is holding only two cue cards in the photo uploaded on his personal Twitter account.
On the previous day, Jeon So-mi hosted the show only in English, not in Korean, which was controversial. However, her screen time was not this little. Her opening alone lasted more than 7 minutes. She also appeared in different outfits in the middle and had time to communicate with the artists. So Mi actively played the role of a host that we saw in all previous MAMA.
On the other hand, many are disappointed by Park Bo Gum’s poor screen time, which makes it hard to even call him a host. He appeared less than most award presenters. Park Bo Gum’s hosting experience this year overshadowed the past three years, as he had no communication with the invited artists and only recited prepared comments.
Source: TV Daily
