There is a difference in opinion regarding the ‘statements of conviction’ made by actor Nam Goong Min and singer Sung Si Kyung.The analysis is that even though they are the same ‘statements of conviction’, the attitude and direction of the statements have divided the temperature of public opinion.

First of all, Nam Goong Min recently made a comeback with SBS Friday-Saturday drama ‘Our Movie’.’Our Movie’ started with 4.2% in the first episode, but dropped to 3.0% in the second episode(according to Nielsen Korea), and there were a lot of articles saying that it was far below the viewership ratings recorded by his previous work ‘Return to the Palace’.

Nam Goong Min recently uploaded a screen capture of an article titled ‘Nam Goong Min’ s Humiliation of Coming in Last Place on Terrestrial Wave ‘to SNS and wrote, “Despite the current low viewer ratings, I am very confident.So please continue to show your interest and watch me like you are doing now, just for the next 5 episodes.” He continued, “And if I don’ t show an outstanding rebound even then, please scold me with even worse words than the humiliation of coming in last.It will be my responsibility.”

Nam Goong Min’s remarks like this showed his will to take responsibility as a leading actor rather than criticizing negative articles about his work.He expressed his confidence as a leading actor in the work he chose, acted in, and created with his colleagues and staff, and he appealed to people to watch it with interest without being rude, thereby generating positive interest in the work.Thanks to this, the topic of Nam Goong Min’s drama has also increased.

Sung Si-kyung has also recently become a hot topic for his bold statements.Sung Si-kyung challenged himself with fashion content through ‘Kkumildeunde’ on his YouTube channel with 2.11 million subscribers.At the beginning, Sung Si-kyung said, “I want to change my life pattern while studying fashion,” and “I think I’ll just continue living the way I am,” expressing his ambition to change his style.However, he received harsh criticism for not changing much in each episode and instead, for his style becoming worse than before.As a result, there were many requests to change the stylist who appeared with Sung Si-kyung.

Sung Si-kyung responded, “If I have to change staff to be cool, I’d rather not be cool,” and “It’s my face and hair that are hard to style, so please don’t badmouth the staff.” However, Sung Si-kyung’s response was met with a backlash, with people taking even affectionate criticism of him as malicious comments.The counterargument that “even legitimate viewer reviews are being defined as ‘malicious’” grew stronger.On the contrary, there was strong criticism that the stars ‘one-way approach of protecting their own members was unprofessional.

In the end, Nam Goong Min converted criticism into humor and responsibility, which had the effect of promoting his work, while Sung Si Kyung ended up aggravating the criticism with his excessive defensive attitude.An entertainment industry insider advised, “An excessively defensive attitude toward the public’s opinion can actually cause a ‘backlash,’” and “Stars live off the public’s love.They need to have empathy and listen to the public’s opinions.”

It remains to be seen whether Nam Goong Min’s ‘Our Movie’ episode 3 will see a rebound in viewership ratings or Sung Si Kyung’s ‘I Want to Kkumdeon ‘will be able to survive the’ malicious comment tunnel’ and continue on.


Reporter Kim Gyul- winter@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.