Knowing Bros Share Why They Opted to Keep Song Ji-ah in Latest Episode

On January 24, producers from JTBC’s Knowing Bros explained to viewers why they did not edit out Song Ji-ah, the current most controversial K-culture celebrity.

YouTuber and influencer Song Ji-ah rose to international stardom through Netflix’s South Korean dating show, Single’s Inferno, similar to Love Island. The celebrity’s reputation took a drastic hit when it was revealed that she used counterfeit luxury products and apparel on the show.

The controversy led to immense hate on the internet and resulted in channels editing the YouTuber from their footage, fearing a backlash. However, Knowing Bros chose to go ahead with Song Ji-ah’s feature.

Speaking to News1, the producers from the show revealed that they couldn’t edit Song Ji-ah’s screentime entirely as they would then have to cancel the episode. Moreover, canceling the episode would not have been fair to the other guest, Lee Young-ji.

Without canceling the broadcast, it would have been difficult to get rid of all of Song Ji-ah’s screen time. The controversy regarding Song Ji-ah blew up right before the broadcast, and so it was unavoidable that we had to air (her footage). We didn’t want to edit out our footage of Lee Young-ji, who appeared together with her as a guest, or cause (Lee Young-ji) any damage.

JTBC added that they edited as much footage as they could without disrupting the episode’s flow.

We edited and aired part of our footage, and we edited out as much of Song Ji-ah’s footage as we could without breaking the flow of the program itself.

JTBC

Song Ji-ah posted a handwritten apology letter acknowledging using fake luxury goods in her videos on January 18. However, her use of counterfeit brands to portray a wealthy personality remains a heated topic of discussion in online forums.

The Knowing Bros episode featuring Song Ji-ah was aired on January 23, and it saw a 0.8% drop in viewership ratings. The particular episode also became the lowest-rated episode in January.

Meanwhile, The Manager, an MBC show, announced that they completely edited out the influencer from their upcoming January 29 episode.

About Knowing Bros

Knowing Bros, (aka Ask Us Anything or Men on a Mission) is a South Korean variety show aired by JTBC. The show started in 2015 and continues to be a popular entertainment program.

Current fixed cast members include Kang Ho-dong, Lee Soo-geun, Kim Young-chul, Seo Jang-hoon, Kim Hee-chul, Min Kyung-hoon and Lee Sang-min. 

The entertainment program features a school setting where the fixed cast play the role of “brothers” or students from the same school. New guests arrive every week as exchange students and are interviewed by the cast. They also participate in certain activities such as games, dancing, talent show, etc. 

News Source: News 1