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Posted by Yaki-Jones Saturday, August 19, 2023

Korean and international netizens split over SBS 'Unanswered Questions' covering FIFTY FIFTY

AKP STAFF

Korean and international netizens are showing drastically different reactions regarding SBS 'Unanswered Questions' covering FIFTY FIFTY.

On August 19th, SBS's current issue program 'Unanswered Questions' aired with much attention as it was noted earlier that the show would delve into the FIFTY FIFTY controversy and the entertainment agency operation structure. However, many Korean viewers thought the show did nothing to clarify the situation. 

The episode started with interviews from both ATTRAKT and The Givers. However, the interviews did not add anything to the currently available information regarding ongoing conflicts between the two sides. The show did not go into details on why the members filed trademarks on their own or why The Givers' CEO Ahn Sung Il lied about his education and work experience. Instead, the director of The Givers commented that he cannot represent the official stance of the company because whatever he says will be twisted. Initially, CEO Ahn Sung Il was supposed to be interviewed by the show but he declined due to his health issues. 

The episode also raised new allegations regarding ATTRAKT's mistreatment of the FIFTY FIFTY members, including daily BMI checks and unpaid royalties from the international streaming platforms. Again, however, there was no in-depth analysis of whether these allegations were toxic industry standards or ATTRAKT's standalone mistreatment. For instance, when they were calculating estimated royalties from various streaming platforms, they did not consider different payout dates and methods depending on the platform and countries. So it was unclear if ATTRAKT actually collected those funds and kept them in its own pocket rather than distributing them to the members. Further, the show left out other activities such as events, commercials, and brand deals to calculate the earnings and costs. 

The phone call recordings revealed by 'Dispatch' and other media sources were also not addressed in the episode. The only new information included in the show was the original demo version of "Cupid" by Swedish producers and that the final version had only three different words from the demo version.  

Many Korean viewers thought the show was indistinguishable from the tea/gossip YouTubers as it only raised more unwarranted allegations and gave the impression of having a set narrative, instead of being impartial as a journalism program. Following the show, the viewers' board of the show was down for hours due to viewers flooding in to leave complaints online. However, many international netizens criticized ATTRAKT following the broadcast, showing drastically different reactions.

  1. FIFTY FIFTY
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bae-bae
bae-bae4,838 pts Saturday, August 19, 2023 6
Saturday, August 19, 2023

Didn't the givers themselves say they were the one handling the girls' daily life and that they never interacted with the CEO?? The math is not mathing...Will be even more interesting to this develop

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AnonymousInsider
AnonymousInsider3,287 pts Saturday, August 19, 2023 18
Saturday, August 19, 2023

Like I said before, It just sounds like this was going to be a way to get more attention. I have to agree with the Korean side on this one. This tells us nothing new, there was a clear narrative, and it doesn't seem that the information was handled fairly. They allowed Ahn to play the victim and say his words would be twisted. They harped on the “mistreatment” because it was something they knew Western fans would eat up. This is something Western outlets do when they don't have any real facts and want to rely on appeal to emotions.

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