Girl’s Generation Taeyeon was 'in tears' over animal abuse incident during K-drama shoot
Several Korean entertainers have expressed outrage after it was revealed that a horse injured on the set of period drama, ‘The King of Tears: Lee Bang-won,’ died a week later. The horse reportedly tripped over a rope during the hectic shoot because of the lack of safety protocols. Social media posts by celebrities and ordinary viewers alike, blaming the production staff of KBS for the horse's death, show that this incident of animal abuse has rightfully triggered many. Girl’s Generation’s Taeyeon was one of the many celebrities who talked about the incident by sharing how emotional she felt about the issue via her SNS.
Actor Yoo Yeon-seok, who was last seen in the K-drama, ‘Hospital Playlist,’ also called out the makers of the show for their apparent lack of safety protocols that resulted in the death of an on-set animal. On January 22, Yoo Yeon-seok took to his Instagram story to talk about how he felt about the event.
In his story, he posted photos of the incident with the caption, “There should be no more filming sites where animals are sacrificed for money and time.” He continued, “The safety of action actors must also be guaranteed.”
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Girl's Generation Taeyeon reacts to animal abuse
The second-gen girl group member Taeyeon, who now works as a solo artist, also talked about the incident via her personal Instagram story. In her story, she shared an Instagram post from ‘Kara,’ a South Korean animal activist's page, which gave fans a brief overview of the incident. Taeyeon captioned the post saying, “It hurts so much that it's hard to see the video, and I'm in tears.”
Talking about how troubled she was about the incident, Taeyeon said, “I'm angry. It's such a terrible thing to do in a world like this these days. It's too terrible for humans and animals.” Deeply saddened by how the animal was treated in the video she asked, “Did anyone run-up to that horse right away and check the condition? Whose idea was it?” Taeyeon also reprimanded the filming process in which the crew waited until the scene was cut before they rushed to aid the animal and stunt actor who were injured, saying, “Such a nonsensical filming process…”
KBS called out for animal cruelty on set
On January 20, when the controversy first broke out, actress Ko So-young posted a picture of the scene on her Instagram story, saying, “It's too bad. I'm sorry.” On the same day, actress Kim Hyo-jin also shared the animal rights activist Kara's post and said, “It's really terrible. The actor was injured, and the horse eventually died. I hope the stunt actor gets well soon.” Actress Gong Hyo-jin also wrote, “It hurts my heart so much”
The KBS drama, ‘The King of Tears: Lee Bang-won,’ which is a period drama tells the story of King Lee Bang-won of the Joseon dynasty, is currently on air. The on-set accident injured the horse's head – an injury that was ultimately fatal.
KBS released their statement saying, “We feel deeply responsible for the accident that occurred during the filming of Taejong Lee Bang-won.” They added, “Through this accident, we confirmed that there was a problem with the method of filming the scene. To prevent such an accident from happening again, we will try to find a different way to film action scenes without compromising the wellness of on-set actors, animals, and props."