Mnet has issued a statement of response against fans' harsh criticism of the '2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards'. Recently, images of attending performing artists who were spotted waiting in the parking lot, in their vehicles, and more while waiting to perform have stirred up controversy on online communities. The controversy pointed to the fact that while performing K-Pop artists were stationed in parking lots, attending actors and actresses designated as award givers were provided with separate waiting rooms and catering. 

One representative of Mnet told media outlets on December 8, "There were only two buildings which had completed construction at the Pachu Contents World, where the '2020 MAMA' took place. If we were to provide everyone in attendance with separate waiting rooms, we needed multiple buildings; but realistically, this was not possible as there were not enough completed buildings. Furthermore, we could not ask people to wait in far off locations as it was a live broadcast, and so we had to inevitably ask performing artists to wait in the parking lot to keep up with COVID19 prevention measures." 

The rep continued, "In the case of the performing artists, their stages were carried out with pre-recording methods so they had already been inside the building, and on the day of the event there were no stages so there were no rehearsals either. So we asked the musicians for their understanding in advance. The musicians were asked to wait in the parking lot until they were the next next up, and then they entered the building and used a few available waiting rooms before going on stage. The award givers did not have prior knowledge of the building and so they needed more time to run through scripts and memorize the event process. There were not as many award givers and so they could be contained in one building per COVID19 prevention measures, and so to prevent close contact in one space, the waiting rooms were divided as such."

Finally, the rep remarked, "There was catering available for both musicians and award givers. For the musicians, they could access the catering while waiting in rooms which were available to them before going on stage." 

Nonetheless, it's suspected that the broadcasting station's controversial approach to the situation, and netizens' strong criticism, will not subside any time soon.