Last week, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games kicked off, as all Olympic games do, with the Opening Ceremonies.
With the Tokyo games coming a year late, thanks to the pandemic, people from all over the world were eager to tune in to watch the light show and procession, meant to highlight each competing country and its athletes.
And while the broadcasting television networks handle their on-screen displays in a variety of ways, one broadcast in particular has raised some eyebrows.
South Korea's MBC television network has been forced to apologize for its unconventional and allegedly inappropriate approach to illustrating the many countries involved in the opening ceremonies.
Critics were particularly outraged by the way MBC handled the portion of the ceremonies during which each country's athletes walk in a group and are announced.
Like many broadcasters, MBC showed each country's name, flag, and medal count in a graphic on the side of the screen.But in addition, MBC also included a photographic image apparently meant to convey the essence of that country.
Things began well enough with a pizza flashing on screen for Italy and some salmon appearing when Norway walked through.
But it all went off the rails when MBC decided to include a photo of the Chernobyl blast site for Ukraine and streetwide upheaval in for Haiti, whose president was recently assassinated.
The eyebrow raising graphics eventually led to someone calling MBC out on Twitter.
South Korean broadcaster MBC used images to "represent" each country during the #Tokyo2020 Opening Ceremony.\n\nItaly: pizza\nNorway: salmon\nHaiti: upheaval\nUkraine: Chernobylpic.twitter.com/KpUXATuZld— Raphael Rashid (@Raphael Rashid) 1627055713
Many people on Twitter weighed in to criticize MBC.
Im Korean, and really sorry for all.. MBC deserve to be criticized, and must be criticized. All of the Korean are criticizing them. MBC have to apologize officially\nOnce again, Really sorry..\u315c\u315c— Yuiyui (@Yuiyui) 1627064688
I'm really ashamed. In Korea, it's very upsetting right now. I also apologize to the Ukrainians, and the broadcasting station should be severely punished for this. \uc9c4\uc9dc \ucabd\ud314\ub9b0\ub2e4 \uc0c8\ub07c\ub4e4\uc544 \u3160\u3160— \uc774\uc601\uc8fc (@\uc774\uc601\uc8fc) 1627060662
Someone sat down and came up with this idea, presented it probably during a meeting and those present agreed and thought it would be fun. This goes through a number of people and no one thought to stop it before airing??— Emy \u2696\ufe0f (@Emy \u2696\ufe0f) 1627068029
Not racism (not everything is racism) but for sure dumb stereotypes.\nThey didn\u2019t have something bad in mind though, but it shows some level of ignorance at least— \u00c4hwiebitte? (@\u00c4hwiebitte?) 1627077633
The people working for the South Korean broadcaster MBC have very little knowledge and no taste.— Alex Kokcharov (@Alex Kokcharov) 1627122998
Eventually, MBC president Park Song-je appeared in a press conference to apologize for the offensive graphics.
Just in: MBC President Park Sung-je just held a presser where he apologised for the MBC's controversial Opening Ceremony coverage.\n\n"Last weekend was the most painful and disastrous time since I took office as president of MBC" he said.\n\n"Again, I bow my head down and apologise."pic.twitter.com/rqrGo0flfk— Raphael Rashid (@Raphael Rashid) 1627281363
MBC will also improve corporate awareness so that all productions, no just sports, reflect and respect universal values, cultural diversity, human rights, and gender equality.— Raphael Rashid (@Raphael Rashid) 1627282281
With the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to continue through August 8, MBC will need to tighten up the screws for a couple more weeks to prevent any further criticism.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
