The large scaled project with originally 101 participants, now 98, has been consecutively caught up in controversy. It might be because of the largest number of participants ever. However, many people agree with purposes of the program; scenes showing the hard training that the participants endure give other trainees a big motivation and it is a good chance to advertise trainees before debut. Nevertheless, there are still lots of concerns. Some assert that sexual objectification of girl group is obvious, and many agencies agree with this idea. Among those concerns, there are some issues you can’t miss. Let’s look over what the hot issues of Produce 101 are.
- Ma Eun Jin : Sasaeng fan (Crazed stalker fan) of EXO The Girl Group, Playback’s former member, Ma Eunjin, who was controversial for being idol sasaeng fan in her past, participates in the Produce 101 project. Last May, the agency of Playback announced that some of the rumor of her sasaeng activity in the past was discovered as true and admitted her withdrawal because she wanted to do so with deep regret. In many online communities, there are many postings about witnessing to her past EXO sasaeng activities and her school bully life when she was teenager.
Kim Joo Na, who is well-known as a half-sister of Hallyu star Kim Soo Hyun, participates in the program. On 23rd, Mnet ‘Produce 101’ revealed that Kim Soo Hyun’s half-sister Kim Joo Na will appear at the program. According to the Rep of Produce 101, on our official home page, Kim Joo Na’s profile would be posted. Kim Joo Na will participate in all audition missions as other participants in order to be picked as the project’s final girl group member. Also it was added that she was one of the original 101 members, not newly came in.
The trainer Ray Yang is issued for her excessive body exposure. Some of her past photos were released as soon as it was announced that she would be the health trainer of the 98 participants at the program. In the photos, her body exposure was included, and she seemed to enjoy her excessive body exposure. Many male fans support her appearance on the show, but many people worried that her excessive body exposure on the program would negatively affect young viewers because young people aged 15 and over are also visible.
