A promotional clip for the K-drama To the Moon has ignited fury across India, the Middle East and beyond — exposing once again Korean entertainment’s blind spot on cultural sensitivity
South Korean broadcaster MBC has landed in hot water after releasing a teaser for its upcoming K-drama To the Moon that viewers slammed as racist and culturally insensitive.
Teaser Sparks Outrage
Released on August 20, the teaser quickly went viral for all the wrong reasons. It featured stars Lee Sun-bin, Ra Mi-ran, Jo A-ram (formerly Gugudan’s Hyeyeon) and Kim Young-dae in a muddled cultural mash-up — bindis with Arab-style headpieces, desert backdrops, and exaggerated Bollywood-inspired dance moves.
Viewers accused the clip of reducing Indian and Arab cultures to caricatures and Orientalist tropes, despite the drama having no storyline connected to either culture.
MBC’s Admission of Fault
Amid mounting criticism, MBC deleted the teaser and issued a statement explaining that the sequence was intended as a parody of a popular 1980s–90s commercial.
“We failed to consider the perspectives of other cultures during this process. The incident was unintentional but regrettable.”
The controversy has reignited long-standing debates about cultural appropriation in K-entertainment.
