Squid Game fans slam “ignorant” South Korean TV channel for blurring out Thanos
NetflixT.O.P., the K-pop star who plays Thanos in Squid Game Season 2, has been blurred out in South Korean TV broadcasts due to his past drug scandal.
Thanos was one of the best additions to the Squid Game cast. He’s a true wildcard: a drug-addicted rapper duped by a crypto scam who takes hilarious (and infuriating) pleasure in playing the games, as well as jeopardizing the lives of those around him.
However, he’s also been one of the most divisive characters in Season 2. Issues with his performance aside, the star was earlier found guilty of using marijuana and handed a 10-month suspended jail sentence.
That won’t seem like a big deal to lots of people, but South Korea has a notoriously strict attitude to drugs that can gravely affect celebrities’ careers.
Squid Game and BigBang fans defend Thanos
In a recent MBC broadcast about Squid Game, Thanos’ face was blurred out. This has been widely criticized on social media, with one user writing: “It’s crazy they are still blurring him out after all these years. What a sad bunch of clowns.”
“Squid Games 2 is full of criminals with crazy criminal records but MBC and Korean draw the line on smoking weed ages ago. Talk about stupidity and ignorance. At this level they just hating T.O.P. for the sake of hating,” another fan posted.
“This is ridiculous. T.O.P. really struck a cord when he said F U to Korean ‘journalists’ back then, huh? daf*q are they on? Did they look at the other actors and their rap sheet?” a third wrote.
The latter tweet is a reference to the allegations around other cast members; for example, Song Young-chang (Player 100) was convicted of engaging in sexual acts with a 16-year-old girl, and Lee Jin-wook (Player 246) was accused of sexual assault in 2016.
Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of Squid Game, has defended T.O.P. in several interviews. He told People that it took “a lot of guts” for the star to play Thanos and that he thought “enough time had passed for people to be more forgiving.”
“I decided to move forward and let his performance speak for itself. Ultimately, whether he’s accepted will depend on how the public perceives his work and if they’re willing to forgive him. That decision lies with the audience,” he added.
In the meantime, find out what we know about Squid Game Season 3, who we think will die in Season 3, and the alleged true story behind the show. You can also find out why Thanos speaks English in the show.