SBS Delete “Ladies” in Michelle Yeoh’s Acceptance Speech

https://zapzee.net/2023/03/14/sbs-under-fire-after-intentionally-deleting-ladies-in-michelle-yeohs-acceptance-speech/

This is insane. Truly. I had a conversation about this in a kakao group chat last night and

In response to the backlash, SBS responded, “We thought ‘don’t let anybody tell you you’re ever past your prime’ is applicable to all people, not just ladies, so we deleted the word.”

was seen as "saving face." "They can't admit to making a mistake (missing a word in live translating) so they had this excuse.

Sorry, making a mistake of omission? You missed a word? So the saving face is to claim that you "fixed her speech?" R word.

"But Kevin, that is their culture. You don't understand Korean culture and saving face." No, no. I understand that. I think it's stupid.

Option A: Our live interpreters are under so much pressure. We're sorry, We missed a word under pressure.

Option B: Her speech was problematic to boys. Ya know, the best ACTRESS speech? So we fixed it. We intentionally changed what Michelle Yeoh said so that boys in Korea wouldn't be upset.

Can you imagine a speech that went like this?

Bong Joonho "I wanna shout out to all my Koreans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is our first Oscar!!!!!!!!!!!"

American subtitle "I wanna shoutout to all my fellow humans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have an Oscar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Why did we change Yeoh's speech? EVEN if SBS thought it was offensive, that's on Yeoh. I'm sorry, this is so fukking dumb. SBS, you should be ashamed. Not for the mistake, but for the response you gave. 

On Reddit, one user claimed they also deleted it from the audio. If that's the case it's not simply a mistake and was deliberate.

I agree that SBS should be ashamed of themselves. They have no right to deliberately change the content of an award winner's speech. Michelle Yeoh didn't misspeak. She gave precisely the message she intended to. SBS shouldn't be the ones to decide whether that is okay or not.

If it really was just a mistake it would be understandable. Mistakes can happen. But their response, whether true or not, is embarrassing.

But their response is embarrassing.

Every speech ever.

"Humans are capable of things."

*whispers in ear*

"Dogs can fetch!!!"

*whispers in ear again*

"The universe is a place where things happen!"


Y'all know me, I am the furthest thing from feminist/SJW, but this is ABSURDDDDDDD. Let her say it and let her take the criticism. Do we change TRump's speeches? Or Putin's? No. Because the audience can decide whether or not we agree with it. This is SO FUKKING STUPID. Shame.

Let her say it and let her take the criticism.

Would there really be that much backlash to what she said? The other networks had no problem with including "ladies" in their translations. It's such an innocuous thing to say. A simple "Sorry. We missed it." would have been so much better than SBS's actual response 

Also why the f did they call her by her Chinese name in Mandarin "양쯔충" (Yang Ziqiong)?
Why not just write "미셸 요"? You know, the name she's gone by forever.

But if you really want to use her "Chinese" name for whatever stupid reason, at least use the Chinese name she actually uses (Yeoh Choo Kheng 요추켕).

This whole debacle has small peepee ajossi energy all over it.

A simple "Sorry. We missed it." would have been so much better than SBS's actual response 

No, you see Korea has "face culture" so they can't admit making mistakes. That makes them look bad. This saves them from being embarrassed.

This whole debacle has small peepee ajossi energy all over it.

But what if a 7 year old boy saw this speech and felt excluded? You're not being considerate.

No, you see Korea has "face culture" so they can't admit making mistakes. That makes them look bad. This saves them from being embarrassed.

If the mistake is really big, even criminal, then it’s suicide rather than doing the time.

I don't know why this surprises you.

It is Korea.

I don't know why this surprises you.

It is Korea.

Korea has many faults. This is absurd. Am I shocked beyond belief? No, but it is so dumb. This is like censoring Putin's words about war because it might upset people. It's THEIR words, let the blame fall on the speaker. Why on Earth would they try to protect our precious feelings?

Clown world.

I remember when 90 minute movies were 75 minutes in Korea. Koreans love censoring things and making things illegal. The group wellbeing trumps free speech, creativity and artistic endeavors.

A simple "Sorry. We missed it." would have been so much better than SBS's actual response 

nah, because who would believe that? it was pretty clearly intentional (imho). might as well just stick to their guns

nah, because who would believe that? it was pretty clearly intentional (imho). might as well just stick to their guns

"Humans can do things!!! But some can't due to disabilities!!! So................. . *clears throat* The universe is here, this is Earth............. There is.......... life on Earth!!! And things happen!!!"

There, I just made a pre-approved SBS speech edit.

nah, because who would believe that? it was pretty clearly intentional (imho). might as well just stick to their guns

I think it was intentional, too. I don't think they would have made up that response if they didn't mean it.

On Reddit, one user claimed they also deleted it from the audio. If that's the case it's not simply a mistake and was deliberate.

But their response, whether true or not, is embarrassing.

Yeah, if it was just the text, I could see the mistake because according to the article, she started with "“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities." so I could see someone trying some fast translation getting confused. But if it was also the audio, then yup, big mistake.

Also why the f did they call her by her Chinese name in Mandarin "양쯔충" (Yang Ziqiong)?

They also had her listed in the same box as "양자경" so I don't know what is going on there. However, from what I understand, she has been popular in Korea for A LONG TIME, like back in her days before she was big overseas, so I think that might be due to familiarity.

Why not just write "미셸 요"? You know, the name she's gone by forever.

I don't know. But I don't think making an issue of "Why wasn't her name Anglicized?" on a night where one of the winners big story was how he basically had to stop acting for 20 years because Hollywood would only typecast him and give him background roles until decades later they finally started to get right about things, beefing about someone's anglicized name being translated by Koreans into Mandarin is just odd. Hopefully Asians won't need "English names" in the future and people can learn to just accept their name as it is without feeling it needs to be changed.

I genuinely hope we all understand this as teachers- If a kid wants an English name, awesome. But the mentality that drove the practice to start is one that needs to be tossed in the ash heap of history.

Thanking your husband/wife in an acceptance speech is exclusionary.

No, you see Korea has "face culture" so they can't admit making mistakes. That makes them look bad. This saves them from being embarrassed.

Dude, I like you. But as others have pointed out, this was SBS, not every other media outlet in Korea.

This is on SBS, not "Korea"  "Korean culture" or "Koreans".

Dude, I like you. But as others have pointed out, this was SBS, not every other media outlet in Korea.

This is on SBS, not "Korea"  "Korean culture" or "Koreans".

This is absolutely "saving face" culture.

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.

Me preparing for the oncoming interaction with JVC

This is absolutely "saving face" culture.

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.

I'd certainly agree it's cya public relations face-saving culture. Should have just admitted they effed up. Maybe they thought they had good reasons, but they should have realized their mistake by now.