KBS web variety show "Donseontae Success Era," which drew attention as the first solo-hosted variety program for former Chungju city public official and YouTuber Kim Seon-tae, has been entirely scrapped ahead of its broadcast schedule.

KBS announced in an official statement on the 31st, "After multiple discussions, we have accepted Kim Seon-tae's intention to step down and canceled both the digital and broadcast schedules." KBS added, "We take very seriously the fact that this could have caused discomfort and hurt to our cast members and viewers. We deeply apologize for this."

Earlier that day, Kim Seon-tae explained the background behind his decision to step down voluntarily through his YouTube channel. He said, "It is not because I lack ability or because I have an agency, but I had difficulties with communication issues with the production team." He added, "Deciding to step down voluntarily is not actually easy. There are contracts, and a broadcasting station is a heavy place. They trusted me and gave me a regular schedule, but I did not have that kind of ability."

This controversy began when a pre-release video for the program was posted on the YouTube channel "Kebaeksu Original" on the 29th.

In the video, Kim Seon-tae faced criticism after directly bringing up RESCENE member WONI's past "museopno" controversy and asking, "Was there anyone who asked if this might be viral marketing?" The controversy grew as it was revealed that the video's hashtags included the names of numerous political and business figures unrelated to RESCENE. The video was switched to private about four hours after its release.

Regarding the hashtag controversy, KBS explained, "Hashtags related to specific individuals used in the previous 'Teaser 2' video were applied as they were to the preview 'Shorts' video." They added, "Due to the production team's carelessness in failing to check this during the upload process, the hashtags were posted."

The broadcaster further stated, "The production team has no intention whatsoever to associate RESCENE with specific individuals for political purposes or any other intent through those hashtags, nor were they intentionally used for viral marketing or securing view counts."

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)