SBS News, a South Korean major broadcaster, caused fury after it omitted Michelle Yeoh’s reference to “ladies” in its coverage of her speech at the Oscars.
Yeoh, who became the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar, said in her Oscar award acceptance speech that her success offered a “beacon of hope and possibility” for “little boys and girls who look like me.” She added a reference to how Hollywood often provides fewer opportunities to women growing older in which she said And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime.
South Korean SBS News edited out the word “ladies” in its news segment and translated Yeoh’s remarks to “you all” to exclude any mention of a specific gender. After receiving backlash from viewers, it later withdrew the segment it published online and re-uploaded the segment that include Yeoh’s statement about “ladies,” according to Yonhap News Agency.
SBS news said it had no intention of misinterpreting Yeoh’s speech but pulled the word because of the “connotation surrounding ‘ladies,’ ” according to Korean media.
SBS News did not instantly react to a request for comment from NPR. Many comments flooded SBS News’ official bulletin board, describing the move as “censorship” and calling on leadership to offer an official apology. The incident offers a glimpse into the tense atmosphere surrounding gender discourse in South Korea.
An anti-feminist wave has stigmatized talk on women’s empowerment. Many young women do not feel pleased talking up about women’s rights of the anxiety of being marked as extreme feminists, even amongst their coequals.
A lot of women cannot talk about gender issues in public spaces, and they don’t even talk to their close friends, because they don’t know what their friends think about it.”
Jinsook Kim, a professor at Emory University who studies online misogyny and feminism, told NPR in December.
Yeoh has spoken about her harsh fight in Hollywood as an Asian woman. Her Oscar-winning role in Everything Everywhere All at Once was initially written for Jackie Chan with Yeoh as his wife, she told Fresh Air last year after the film’s release.
When people think ‘superhero’, it’s always the guys who seem to be first in line for it. Why is it that we older women cannot be the superhero?”
Yeoh said.
