Lately, there has been a joke that NewJeans' new music video for "Ditto" plagiarized the iconic variety show 'Infinite Challenge.'

This all started when one netizen pointed out that there are many scenes from the rookie girl group's music video that is very similar to one episode of 'Infinite Challenge.' The online community post included side-by-side screenshots to show how similar the two were. Another netizen even created a hilarious Infinite Challenge music video version of "Ditto" that garnered more attention to the joke.

Then on December 21, the director of the "Ditto" music video, DOLPHINERS FILM CEO Shin Woo Seok, posted a statement on his social media explaining that it is not plagiarism.

He wrote, "I heard that there is a controversy saying that NewJeans' music video for 'Ditto' was plagiarized. I want to clearly state that it is not plagiarism. If there are similar scenes please understand it being of similarities in the genre. Thank you. - DOLPHINERS FILM Shin Woo Seok"

Many online users interpreted the director's statement as sarcasm, but others took it at face value and sent him direct messages. In response, the director posted another Instagram story to clarify that his statement was meant to be a joke.

He shared, "I was just joking, but there were so many DMs giving me in encouragement, so I'm put in a tight spot to respond."

He then included a screenshot of a Sports Chosun article about his response and clarified that his statement was only a joke. He wrote, "It's a joke."

Netizens found this happening hilarious and responded, "lol," "This is hilarious," "Everything is on Infinite Challenge though," "It's more fascinating that people were able to find the scenes, lol," "It's so funny how he even had to explain himself," "This is so funny," and "Where did these people find this?"