21st Century Grand Princess Consort Fans Protest Deletion of Controversial Scenes

When the production team of the MBC Geumto drama '21st Century Grand Princess Consort' announced they would delete sequences that caused controversy over historical distortion, some fans strongly protested, claiming that "the value of the drama is being undermined."

It has been reported that MBC plans to delete the king's coronation sequence in episode 11, which sparked the historical distortion controversy.

During the coronation of Grand Prince Yi An, Yi Wan (Byeon Woo-seok), the expression 'Cheonse'—used by vassal states subordinate to an empire—was used instead of 'manse,' which is a symbol of an independent nation. This led to fierce criticism from viewers asking if the country was a vassal state of China. Furthermore, if he were the emperor of an independent nation, he should have worn a 12-row 'Sip-i-myeon-ryu-gwan' (crown), but on this day, Yi Wan wore a 9-row 'Gu-ryu-myeon-ryu-gwan' (crown) signifying a vassal, and scenes of Chinese-style tea ceremonies appeared, leading to a series of controversial situations.

Ultimately, Professor Seo Kyeong-deok of Sungshin Women's University strongly criticized the production, stating, "The biggest problem is that this provides an excuse for the Northeast Project."

As the controversy spread rapidly, the production team apologized on the 16th, saying, "We take the viewers' points very seriously, noting that the scene where the king wears the Gu-ryu-myeon-ryu-gwan and the subjects salute with 'Cheonse' undermines our nation's independent status. This issue arose because we failed to carefully examine how Joseon's etiquette changed throughout history."

However, as news spread that the problematic coronation scene would be completely deleted, some enthusiastic fans of the work are protesting vehemently, calling it "forced logic."

On the 22nd, a comment was posted on the viewers' board saying, "There needs to be a clear distinction between criticism of errors occurring during the creative process and excessive labeling that denies the entire intention and cultural achievement of the work."

In addition, petitions are pouring in, arguing that deleting the scenes undermines the value of the drama.