[SBS Star] The Host of a College Festival Apologizes to TWICE for Giving an Offensive Comment

The host of a college festival held in Seoul in recent days officially apologized to K-pop girl group TWICE for giving a controversial comment during the show.

On May 11, TWICE was invited as the guest of the event. From the festival, the group performed various songs and brightened the place. But the problem emerged from the time when the audience passionately called for the group's encore performances.

The host of the festival, former announcer Lee Jeong-pyo, responded to the audience's demand by saying, "You should not use the word 'encore'. You have to use the word 'service'."

Lee's comment soon caused controversy online as his choice of word seemed to imply sexual connotations. In Korea, the word 'service' implies various meanings, yet the usage of the word by the host in this particular situation reminded people of the instance in which female servers/performers take action to provoke sexual arousal in the audience.

As the host's usage of the word rapidly ignited controversy, Lee Jeong-pyo officially made apologies saying that he had no intention to use the word with such connotations.

The official statement from the host is as follows:

"Hello, everyone. I was responsible for the recent college festival at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.

To the students of Sungkyunkwan University, staffs of the event, TWICE, and the fans of the group, I sincerely apologize for my thoughtless choice of the word used during the event.

On May 11, it was a great honor to greet and introduce the renowned K-pop artist TWICE at the festival.

When I arrived at the place two hours before the set time, I have seen so many of you waiting for TWICE to perform on the stage. 

I was aware of your great passion for the upcoming performance, and I wanted to give you the best memories from the event.

While I was watching TWICE's performance, I thought it would be better for the group to perform one more song.

Many people at the festival passionately called for TWICE's encore performances. At that moment, I thought of the word 'service' used for the instance in which celebrities express love for their fans.

But different from my intention, my choice of the word misrepresented what I meant, and I am sincerely sorry for those of you hurt by the word.

I acknowledge that my apologies for what I have unintentionally done would not fulfill your expectations.

I am just so sorry for everything, including my carelessness and my thoughtless action.

As the host of the event, I should have thought more of the word usage, and it is my fault to ruin the joyful moment of the day.

I, once again, apologize for the irresponsible behavior. I promise I will never make the same mistake and disappoint all of you again. I am really sorry."

(Credit= Event Factory, 'JYPETWICE' 'skku50swith' Facebook)

(SBS Star)