With the controversy against cable channel Mnet's decision to hold their year-end awards, "MAMA (Mnet Asian Music Awards)," in Macau, and the battle of pride ongoing between public broadcast companies, it seems that the singers themselves are also caught in the crossfire as well. Mnet will be holding the 2010 MAMA on November 28th in Macau, having previously revealed, "We have worked hard to make sure that MAMA is a representative of Korea. Now we will be attempting to make it represent not only Korea, but all of Asia as well. Our first event will be held in Macau, and will then move out into other countries." The problem lies in that Korean singers are forced to choose between appearing on MBC's "Music Core" and SBS's "Inkigayo" against Mnet's MAMA. The two music programs have been careful in making public statements, but SBS has stated, "Our live program, 'Inkigayo,' puts the viewers first. Whether or not popular artists perform, we will be airing the program live as planned." Regarding allowing artists to perform a pre-recording, the producers gave a negative response. The representative continued, "Due to some unavoidable circumstances, one or two teams will be performing through a pre-recording, but we absolutely will not allow artists attending MAMA to go through a pre-recording with us. 'Inkigayo' will continue like normal." One such case is CNBlue. Due to CNBlue's Jung Yonghwa being an MC for SBS's Inkigayo, CNBlue is unable to attend the MAMA in theory. In addition, MBC who is currrently adopting a guest MC system will have to tread carefully in appointing their MCs for the week. MBC representatives added, "Singers have not told us anything in regards to MAMA. There is still a lot of time left, and we're busy enough preparing for next week's broadcast." Other management agency representatives commented, "Due to Mnet holding their ceremony overseas, artists will not be able to participate in music programs at home. Artists that rejects MAMA will also be met with considerable difficulty in appearing on Mnet programs in the future. Nobody is sure as to what decision to make at this point." Mnet representatives stated, "We have nothing confirmed as of yet. We're not sure whether to take the singers for two nights and three days, or whether to take them all on the afternoon of the Saturday. For now, we will be attempting to solve this with the public broadcast companies. MAMA has a positive purpose / intentions, but we feel that some others are intentionally trying to bring it down." Source + Photo: Sports Today