Na edited clip of Coldplay's Chris Martin joking about Korea’s impeachment crisis to promote herself, outraging fans
Five-term People Power Party Rep. Na Kyung-won has outraged fans of British rock band Coldplay here for using clips from the band's recent Seoul concert to promote her own presidential campaign.
Na’s official YouTube channel uploaded Monday a short-form video tagged with @coldplay that included scenes from the band’s concert held Friday at Goyang Sports Complex, northwest of Seoul, as part of its "Music of the Spheres" world tour. The band had returned to play in Korea after eight years.
Friday’s concert made headlines after front man Chris Martin mentioned Korea’s political turmoil involving the presidential impeachment, saying "Every time Coldplay comes to South Korea, there is no president."
Martin continued, saying he would nominate drummer Will Champion as Korea’s next president, describing him as “kind, fun and strong,” and someone who “stands up to dictators but treats all people fairly.” Videos of him making the remarks went viral online here.
However, Na’s YouTube video edited the clips to make it appear as though Martin was endorsing her as a presidential candidate.
In the clip, an image of Na’s face was edited onto Champion’s body, with subtitles that read, “Today, we name our next president. It’s Na Kyung-won, who took on the 'drum barrel challenge.'"
The drum barrel challenge refers to a photo Na recently posted on Facebook, showing herself sitting inside a large steel barrel holding a sign that reads, “I’d rather get into a drum barrel than surrender.”
It is viewed as a malicious message aimed at Rep. Lee Jae-myung, former chair of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, who is the front-runner in South Korea's presidential race. In Korea's far-right online forums such as Ilbe, the term "drum barrel" is used to disparage Lee. A steel barrel appears in the 2013 film, "New World," when gangsters abandon the body of a person they killed.
Heading towards the June 3 early presidential election, called following the removal of former President Yoon Suk Yeol after his botched Dec. 3 martial law declaration, Na has taken the stance of defending Yoon, who is a member of the same conservative People Power Party.
Na’s bid to promote herself using clips of the massively popular rock band, however, immediately sparked outrage among fans, who flooded the comments accusing the lawmaker of politicizing the performance.
One user who claimed to have reported the video to YouTube for misuse, “Na clearly doesn’t understand the values Coldplay stands for. This completely distorts the context of what was said during the concert."
Another commenter criticized Na's apparent breach of the band members' portrait rights, saying, “How can a presidential candidate so blatantly violate an artist’s image rights? In Western countries, this would be a serious issue. It’s shameful.”
In response, Na’s camp defended the clip as "a simple promotional video," claiming it has no connection to Coldplay’s original message.
Coldplay and Korean politics
Formed in 1996, Coldplay is known worldwide not only for its music but also for promoting values such as love, unity, peace and environmental sustainability. The band has performed in South Korea only twice and each time they did, the country indeed had no president due to impeachments.
The band first performed in Korea in April 2017, a month after former President Park Geun-hye was impeached. During the massive candlelight rallies that swept through Seoul in the months leading up to her ouster, the band's 2008 hit “Viva La Vida," a song about the fall of a former ruler, was widely heard as one of the protest anthems.
The band’s second concert tour to Korea occurred just a few weeks after the country removed a sitting president for a second time, Yoon.
Following three performances last week -- on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday -- the band is set to take the stage again this week on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Their six-night run is expected to draw a combined audience of 300,000, averaging 50,000 per concert, according to Live Nation Korea, the Korean branch of the global entertainment company.
cjh@heraldcorp.com
