Considered As Cultural Appropriation, Park Eun Seok Apologizes About Alex's Character In 'The Penthouse 3'

JAKARTA - The Korean drama from SBS, The Penthouse 3 received a number of criticisms regarding the new characters appearing in this week's episode. The character Alex played by actor Park Eun Seok is considered a cultural appropriation.

Netizens regret that the visual representation and accent used by Alex in the drama are offensive and include a cultural appropriation.

The term cultural appropriation is a concept in which a person takes the identity or culture of another person. Usually, this is done by people with dominant cultures who use the property of minority people.

Through his TikTok account on Saturday, June 12, Park Eun Seok uploaded a video containing an apology to the audience of The Penthouse 3. He explained that Alex's character was not created to insult African Americans.

"I apologize to those who were offended by (Alex's) character. At first, it seemed more admiration than mockery, but now I realize that the approach is more of a [cultural appropriation]”.

The 37-year-old actor hopes that the audience can see Alex's character present as a sense of admiration for culture, not to mock.

“As a minority, I should have understood more. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to realize”. The video has 200.000 views with a total of 50.000 likes.

On the other hand, the rating for the latest episode of The Penthouse 3 decreased by two percent from the previous week, which was 17.5 percent. Even so, this drama became the most-watched Korean drama on Friday.