Perfect Crown petition passes 25,000 as cancellation pressure builds
A public petition calling for the cancellation of MBC's drama 'Perfect Crown' has surpassed 25,000 signatures, nearing the 50,000 required for review by the South Korean National Assembly. The controversy stems from alleged historical inaccuracies and cultural distortions within the series, leading to calls for its removal from all domestic and overseas VOD and OTT platforms. Production teams, writers, and actors have issued apologies and plan to remove disputed scenes, with a related pop-up store closing early.
Key Takeaways
- The National Assembly petition reached 25,549 signatures by May 23 KST, more than halfway to the 50,000-signature review threshold.
- The petition remains open until June 21 KST and needs 50,000 signatures within 30 days to go to a parliamentary committee.
- Viewers criticized Episode 11 for using “Cheonse” instead of “Manse” during Grand Prince Ian’s coronation scene.
- The backlash also focused on a nine-bead ceremonial crown, which critics said was historically tied to Chinese royal subordinates rather than sovereign emperors.
- MBC said it would revise the disputed audio, subtitles, and scenes for rebroadcasts, VOD, and OTT services, and a Yeouido pop-up store will close earlier than planned.
Why It Matters
The immediate issue is distribution risk: the petition explicitly calls for 'Perfect Crown' to be pulled from domestic and overseas VOD and OTT platforms, and the production has already pledged edits to rebroadcasts, VOD, and OTT versions. That makes this more than a ratings controversy; it is now a platform-delivery and content-governance problem for MBC. The broader signal is how quickly a historical-accuracy dispute moved from episode backlash to a National Assembly petition, with 25,549 signatures collected in under two days. The next concrete marker is whether the petition reaches 50,000 signatures before June 21 KST.
Read full article at allkpop.com
Get this in your inbox → Subscribe
Enjoy our coverage?
Add StreamingMeme as a preferred source on Google to see more of our streaming news at the top of your Search results.
Add as preferred source