The Stanford education fraud scandal that has been a hot topic for 6 months, is once again heating up after the October 1st episode of MBC Special, "Tablo Goes to Stanford".
The whole debate over Tablo's Stanford education began in April with a netizen's suspicions, and the issue was enlarged even further when a Tablo anti-fan cafe called, "We Request the Truth from Tablo" (Ta Jin Yo) was formed.
To counter the netizen's suspicions, Tablo had revealed his official transcript as well as other official documents. However, more suspicions were born about the legitimacy of those documents.
The broadcast of "Tablo Goes to Stanford" was about Tablo's alleged education forgery.
On the first part of this special, Tablo visited Stanford and spoke with his friend from Stanford, and there were interviews with the prestigious university's administrative staff. Thomas Black, who had recently appeared in a Korean broadcast station's interview, also provided explanations to refute many of the suspicions.
The transcript forgery suspicion was struck down when Thomas Black printed out an official transcript on the spot and compared the document with the transcript that Tablo had presented before. There was no difference whatsoever between the two documents, proving the legitimacy of Tablo's transcript.
Tobias Wolff, an English professor at Stanford who had previously responded in an interview with the Korean media, that he did not know a Daniel and that graduating from Stanford in three and a half years was impossible, stated, "During that interview, I thought that graduation in three and a half years was outrageous, so I replied like that. However, once I looked into it, it was the truth. I did not know Daniel very well, but there were many among the professors and staff who remembered him".
Wolff added, "A talented guy has become the target of a witch hunt".
After the airing of "Tablo Goes to Stanford", there has been an increase in netizens who are supporting Tablo, and many fellow celebrities have been supporting the musician as well. There are also many posts on the internet criticizing Ta Jin Yo for targeting Tablo, calling the internet cafe "a national shame".
However, many netizens are still persistent, saying, "It isn't right to exclusively blame Ta Jin Yo when the entire truth has not been revealed yet. We should be more wary. It isn't right for other celebrities to be misleading public opinion".
Jung Sung Hoo, the man who planned out this coverage of the Tablo controversy, stated, "The debate is over. However, there is still a minority that does not recognize Tablo's education. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in groups unilaterally blaming Ta Jin Yo. This is a very concerning subject".
Through this special, Tablo stated, "No matter how many people I meet and interview here, people who don't want to believe me will keep creating suspicions. It's not that they can't believe. It's that they don't want to believe. I wonder how bad I must have looked to people, for something like this to have happened. It took 5-6 years for me to be loved, but all that love shattered in one day".
It is true that "Tablo Goes to Stanford" has somewhat turned the tables in Tablo's favor. However, it is still unclear whether he will be able to revive his career and stand in front of the public as a musician and as a star.
Meanwhile, part 2 of the MBC special will air on October 8th, covering this controversy and what it means to the current Korean society. This segment is entitled, "Tablo and Korea Online"
Source + Photo: OSEN
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Posted by 0 pt Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Tablo's name cleared, but comeback is difficult
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