Chinese drama producers apologise for using a photo of BLACKPINK’s Rosé to depict a sex worker

The producers behind Chinese drama series Justice in the Dark have apologised for using a photo of BLACKPINK member Rosé to depict a sex worker.

Fans on Chinese social media platform Weibo spotted the K-pop idol’s photo in a scene within the most recent episode of Justice in the Dark, in which a police officer goes undercover for a hotel stake-out for an investigation and requests sexual services. The hotel staff hands the officer a catalogue of sex workers under the hotel, among which Rosé’s picture was spotted, with some edits made to her facial features.

The scene later went viral on Weibo search engines on February 21, with fans and Chinese netizens alike demanding an apology from Justice in the Dark’s showrunners.

[Hot search] Some netizens found out that the crew of ‘Gwangyeon’ (#光渊) used #ROSÉ’s photo in the drama and wrote it as ‘s#x worker’ and made no apology so far. Fans are netizens are furious over the situation and asking for an apology from the crew. pic.twitter.com/OGo6eBp315

— Weibo Melons (@weibomelons) February 20, 2023

Shortly after the inclusion of Rosé’s photo went viral, Justice in the Dark’s production team took to the same platform to issue an official apology. “The photo was a mistake due to negligence on our part of the production team, and it has negatively impacted Miss Park Chae-young’s [Rosé’s Korean name] image and reputation,” the statement read, as translated by 8Days. “We apologise to Miss Park Chae-young [Rosé], her fans, the broadcasting platform and the viewers.”

Justice in the Dark’s production team also noted in their statement that they have gone on to “delete the relevant materials from the platform”. “In the future, we will work more rigorously to avoid and prevent such incidents from happening,” the apology read, before concluding by noting that the production company behind the series are “actively contacting the agency of Miss Park Chae-young [Rosé] with sincere apologies”.

Neither YG Entertainment nor Rosé herself has responded to the incident at the time of publication.

In other BLACKPINK news, YG Entertainment recently confirmed that member Jisoo has been filming a music video for her upcoming solo debut. “The music video for Jisoo’s solo track is being filmed overseas for all the [filming] locations in strict secrecy,” revealed the agency, adding: “It is worth anticipating as we invested the highest production cost of all BLACKPINK videos to date.” The news came about a month after Jisoo and YG shared that the BLACKPINK singer would be making her solo debut in 2023.

The post Chinese drama producers apologise for using a photo of BLACKPINK’s Rosé to depict a sex worker appeared first on NME.