SEOU – “Gangnam Style” star
Psy was praised by South
Korea’s president and
slammed by its state
broadcaster all on the same
day Thursday, as his new
song “Gentleman” made
more than just musical
waves.
While President Park Geun-
Hye cited Psy’s “exemplary”
respect for copyright
principles, KBS television
banned the “Gentleman”
music video saying it could
encourage anti-social
behaviour.
A KBS statement suggested
the offending sequences in
the video, which has already
clocked up 140 million views
on YouTube, showed Psy
jaywalking down an empty
street and then kicking a
traffic cone labelled “No
Parking”.
KBS said the images might
set a bad example to
younger viewers and did not
meet the standards set by
the state broadcaster.
“We strictly forbid any
material that might disturb
basic public order,” the
statement said.
The video ban came as
President Park Geun-Hye
favourably name-checked Psy
during a meeting with
policymakers in which she
urged a “paradigm shift”
from an economy based on
manufacturing to one that
embraced creativity.
“Growth led by a few big
firms and the government
are bound to be limited… we
need a healthy ecosystem of
creative entrepreneurs,” she
said, citing late Apple
founder Steve Jobs and
Microsoft’s Bill Gates as
examples.
Rampant piracy in IT and
cultural products needs to be
curbed to encourage more
creation of software, she
added, praising Psy for
paying to borrow a dance
move from another K-pop act
for his “Gentleman” video.
The video features a hip-
swinging dance originally
performed in 2009 by
popular girlband Brown Eyed
Girls for their hit
“Abracadabra”.
In order to incorporate the
routine, Psy paid an
unspecified fee to the team
of choreographers who
created it.
“This recognition of the
value of other people’s
creativity is a very exemplary
case,” Park said.
The “Gentleman” video
shows Psy, wearing his
signature sunglasses,
dancing at various locations
in and around Seoul
including a high-end clothing
store, restaurant, swimming
pool and a library.
The storyline features the
singer teasing and playing
practical jokes on women,
such as pulling their chairs
away as they are about to sit
or untying a woman’s bikini
top at a swimming pool.
It was the video of
“Gangnam Style”, and in
particular Psy’s signature
horse-riding dance, that
pushed him to global
stardom last year after it was
posted on YouTube and
turned into a viral sensation.
A satire on the luxury lifestyle
of Seoul’s upscale Gangnam
district, it has become the
most-watched YouTube
video of all time, registering
more than 1.5 billion views
since it debuted last July.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/psys-gentleman-video-praised-and-banned/