By Kim Rahn
Singer Kim Heung-guk held a one-man rally in front of the headquarters of MBC in central Seoul, Monday, in protest of the broadcaster recently ousting the entertainer from his radio program.
Kim, forced to leave his program “Hurray, 2 p.m.” Sunday, staged the protest at MBC with a picket that read: “I’m sorry, audience of Hurray 2 p.m.”
“I stage this demonstration in order to prevent other entertainers from being kicked off their shows. I’ll hold the rally every day between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. until Friday, and I’ll have my hair shaved on Friday at noon in protest,” Kim said.
He said on June 3 that the broadcaster’s radio department head, Lee Woo-yong, told him to leave the program as his participation in a by-election campaign was inappropriate.
During the by-election in April, Kim joined a campaign for Kang Jae-sup, then ruling Grand National Party candidate for Bundang B district in Gyeonggi Province.
“This comes from Lee’s personal, biased political views. I never used the broadcast for political purposes. If they don’t like my political bias, they should have not hired me from the beginning,” he said.
“MBC should clarify what its qualification for radio presenter is and why I was shut out without any prior warning,” the singer said.
It was said that the MBC union started the issue on May 31, saying the broadcaster was supposed to keep neutral ahead of an election but Lee defended Kim’s alleged political activity.
But an MBC spokesman said Kim first told them that he would leave the show for personal reasons and they accepted it. Kim had emceed the program for 14 months since April last year.
Regarding the issue, the union of singers called for MBC to allow Kim to return to his program.
“MBC should be blamed for treating popular artists as expendable staff that it can discard at any time. The MBC union is also responsible for using a popular artist as a tool to protest against management,” the singers’ union said in a statement.