This year’s “Idol Star Athletics Championships” continues to face controversies: Power abuse issue → Covid-19 problems
Amid the return of the popular program “Idol Star Athletics Championships”, which was halted for a while due to the Covid-19 pandemic, unpleasant issues kept on arising.
This year’s MBC “2022 Idol Star Chuseok Special Athletics Championships” was recorded at Goyang Stadium Gymnasium for two days, July 31st and August 1st.
From the previous seasons, “Idol Star Athletics Championships” has always been controversial with power abuse problems, injuries, and prolonged recordings that started from early morning until late at night. Despite various noisy issues, idol stars still join this program in order to promote their names and athletic skills. Many idols participated in this year’s “Idol Star Athletics Championships”, and controversies continued to be revealed after the recording.
Boy group Stray Kids was embroiled in controversies over their agency requesting fans to make cheering banners using their own money and staff’s power abuse remark at the recording site of the program. In response, JYP Entertainment issued an official apology on August 2nd, saying “We apologize for hurting the hearts of fans, for whom we should have been grateful, with our wrong direction during the event”, adding “Regarding the staff’s inappropriate remark, it was found to be a wrong decision made by the staff of a security company we hired.”
In addition, singer Kim Jae-hwan was confirmed to have been infected with Covid-19 and the red light was turned on. His agency said on August 2nd, “Kim Jae-hwan took a self-testing before every schedule due to his recent body aches and all the activities proceeded after he was tested negative. However, his symptoms worsened on the night of August 1st, and the result of the self-testing came out as ‘positive’. A PCR test was conducted on the morning of August 2nd and the artist was eventually confirmed to have been infected”.
The agency continued, “All schedule of Kim Jae-hwan has been temporarily suspended, and he is currently taking a rest”, adding “We suggest all fans, who had close contact with Kim Jae-hwan, such as taking pictures, do Covid self-testing.”
As such, “Idol Star Athletics Championships” is in trouble again with back-to-back controversies, from power abuse to Covid-19.
This problem cannot be left out. “Idol Star Athletics Championships” issued a notice before the recording. They announced that the recording would start at 5:30 a.m and end at 9 p.m on the same day. Nevertheless, not only was it impossible for fans to leave in the middle of the recording but eating was also prohibited due to Covid-19 prevention regulations. When the news was reported, controversy arose, so “Idol Star Athletics Championships” eventually changed allowing fans to go in and out and have meals in the middle of the recordings.
“Idol Star Athletics Championships” is still the talk of the town. It is necessary to think about whether the program was excessively progressed at a time when Covid-19 has not yet ended completely.
Meanwhile, “Idol Star Athletics Championships” is scheduled to air during the Chuseok holiday.
Source: Nate
