Copycat videos of 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' face criticism online

Television

Published: 19 Jul. 2022, 16:14

Copycat videos of 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' face criticism online

YouTuber Misunjjang has come under fire for posting YouTube Shorts of herself imitating Woo Young-woo, a lovable character who has autism spectrum disorder in the popular drama series ″Extraordinary Attorney Woo″ on Monday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Netizens have been engaging in fierce debate online over the morality of impersonating the character of Woo Young-woo — a lovable character with autism spectrum disorder — in the popular drama series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” on ENA, which is also available on Netflix.

On Monday, a YouTuber on the channel Wowcow, who has 590,000 subscribers, posted a YouTube Shorts showing herself serving dinner to her husband. The video instantly received backlash from netizens who argued that the video ridicules people with disabilities as the YouTuber was impersonating the behavior and speech of Woo Young-woo.

“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is the most-talked-about show in Korea at the moment for the wholesome portrayal of Woo Young-woo, who is played by actor Park Eun-bin. Due to Park’s great acting skills and the popularity of the show, many netizens have been posting videos of themselves impersonating the character.

“As a teacher, I’ve been agonizing on how to educate my students who have been making fun of the character at school after watching the drama and mimicking people with autism and seeing an adult doing it and posting it online makes me so angry,” one netizen posted under the YouTube video.

YouTuber Wowcow posted a comment explaining that she had no intention to “mock people with autism spectrum disorder” and that she was just making a “parody of the character Woo Young-woo.” She has not deleted the video.

“I never thought having autism spectrum disorder was something to make fun of or thought of it as funny,” she wrote.

Misunjjang, a YouTuber with 230,000 subscribers, has also come under fire for posting YouTube Shorts of herself imitating Woo Young-woo on Monday.

She deleted the video on Tuesday and wrote a comment stating that she did not film the video to ridicule those with autism but because she thought the character of Woo Young-woo was "so cute and lovable."

While some are arguing such content is inappropriate, others say people are taking it too seriously.

“The character in the drama series is portrayed as a lovable character and people on social media are impersonating her with no ill intention,” a netizen wrote underneath Misunjjang's video.

The drama began airing on June 29. The seventh episode of the 16-episode drama airs Wednesday.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]