Comedienne Lee Se-Young declined the award she supposed to receive at the 24th Korean Culture Entertainment Awards. She rejected the award due to the sexual assault controversy involving several boy groups in "Saturday Night Live Korea" (SNL Korea).
The 27-year old comedienne did not even attend the award ceremony held on November 30. Regarding her decision, her agency FNC Entertainment explained to Hankook Ilbo that such was not the appropriate for her to receive the award in the light of sexual assault controversy. They have also consulted the event organizer regarding her decision.
"I was going to participate in the ceremony for Lee Se-young," said the representative from FNC Entertainment. "But we decided that it was not appropriate at this time to receive it and decline the price after consulting the organizer."
Lee was involved in the controversy of sexual assault controversy as a result of excessive behavior from the SNL Korea cast members to the male guests, moreover toward boy groups. B1A4, INFINITE, and Block B are some of the groups that experienced such molestation.
The controversy has gone viral since the footage of behind the scene from the Saturday Night Live became viral. The footage shows some female cast members approaching members of B1A4 and grabbing their crotches aggressively, leaving them in shock.
tvN has publicly apologized to B1A4 and their fans regarding the incident according to KPop Herald. B1A4 appeared Saturday Night Live Episode 13 aired on November 26.
B1A4 agency WM Entertainment has published a statement following the apology from tvN to calm their angry fans. Many Korean fans, including those of the B1A4, are known to be very fanatic towards their idol, which can lead to more serious incidents.
However, tvN did not apologize to other male guests who also allegedly experienced sexual molestation. The tvN haven't made any comment about other alleged incidents either.
Watch the footage of the sexual molestation from the female cast members toward B1A4 which went online. The molestation begins on the 34 seconds of the footage below:
