The popular YouTube series Psick University has been under fire lately.
On May 11, 2024 (KST), Psick University uploaded a video titled “Visiting Gyeongsang Province’s Smallest Town, Yeongyang” as part of its regular content of “Made In Gyeongsang-Do,” which focuses on exploring areas in the southeastern part of Korea. Yet, this episode received backlash.
Throughout the 36-minute video, comedians Lee Yong Ju, Jung Jae Hyung, and Kim Min Soo continually “insulted” and “disrespected” the area, businesses, and residents. They called the area “China” (for being rural and unknown), described the flavor of ginseng as “the flavor of chewing on a grandma,” and called the local river “sh*t water.” They joked about the area not having a fast-food chain, so the residents settle for “fake burgers” at local establishments. In another moment, the comedians noted that “local women” were “walking around all dolled up,” believing to be for them.
They knew we were coming. The two ladies we saw earlier? They got all dolled up. They keep walking around…
— Psick University Comedians
Viewers criticized this episode for a week, and it spread across online communities. Some of the most prominent Korean press outlets, including SBS, KBS, and JTBC, joined with news segments. Locals commented on the controversy, agreeing they were “rude” as a restaurant owner graciously let them eat outside their regular business hours.
Sure, they were a bit rude. We saw the video, too. We told them that we were not taking any orders, but they insisted that they had to dine at our restaurant. So we took them in as the last customers for our lunch service.
— Restaurant Owner
By May 18, 2024 (KST), which initially boasted 3.18M+ subscribers, had seen a decline—losing 100K+ subscribers.
Finally, the Psick University hosts issued a statement via Instagram. The three apologized for the video and addressed their poor comments.
“Hello, this is Psick University’s Lee Yong Ju, Jung Jae Hyung, and Kim Min Soo.
We would like to apologize for the “Made In Gyeongsang Province: Yeongyang” episode uploaded to the Psick University’s YouTube channel on May 11.
We have read all the comments without deleting any, reflecting on the aspects that have been criticized. While we understood the importance of a prompt statement addressing the issue, we believed it was more crucial to offer a sincere apology to those directly involved in this incident. Additionally, we were concerned that our sincerity might not be fully conveyed through an apology lacking sufficient reflection. After careful consideration, we have decided to post this apology today.
We apologize to everyone whom we have offended with our immaturity.
The “Made In Gyeongsang Province” content is based on Lee Yong Ju’s hometown and his identity as someone from the area. The original intention was to capture his most awkward moments when facing actual Gyeongsang province natives, contrasting his claim of being from Busan, and to turn it into comic episodes. As the episodes progressed, we added an aspect of exploring the different regions in Gyeongsang province, naturally incorporating promotional content for the region. However, we failed to deeply contemplate the negative impact it could have on those regions.
We admit that the Yeongyang episode was problematic in that, in an attempt to highlight the town as being relatively unknown despite having many attractions, we used exaggerated expressions to bring comedic appeal to the content. Particularly, we admit that we made comments lacking consideration for the residents and small business owners of the area. Comments such as ‘This feels like China,’ ‘The restaurant lacks uniqueness,’ ‘The river smells like sh*t,’ and ‘The ginseng tastes like grandma,’ and others pointed out in the criticism were conveyed to the viewers without filtration, in a form that is difficult to accept as comedy. We take full responsibility without making any excuses and sincerely apologize for all the mentioned issues.”
— Lee Yong Ju, Jung Jae Hyung, and Kim Min Soo
The three claimed they have since revisited the local restaurant and bakery to meet with the owners and apologize to them in person. They also apologized to residents and deleted the video from the channel.
“Firstly, we would like to express our sincerest apologies to the two business owners who were directly impacted by our content.
The members of Psick University, Lee Yong Ju, Jung Jae Hyung, and Kim Min Soo, re-visited the bakery and the traditional Korean food restaurant directly mentioned in the episode to offer apologies.
To the owner of the bakery, we deeply apologized for the disrespectful behavior within the premises and inconsiderate reviews of the baked goods. Fortunately, the bakery owner kindly agreed to sit down and have a conversation with us first, and graciously forgave us, stating that they were alright. We express our gratitude once again and apologize sincerely.
We also offered multiple apologies to the business owner of the traditional Korean food restaurant for our rudeness. We acknowledged our shortcomings due to this incident and we expressed our commitment to becoming better individuals. In response, the restaurant owner reminded us that everyone makes mistakes, though repeating it becomes a wrong. The restaurant owner kindly advised us not to repeat the same mistake and encouraged us to move on.
Both business owners have mentioned that there is currently no damages caused by the episode, but we will continuously monitor for any potential future consequences and do our best to assist if needed.
Secondly, we would like to express our sincere apologies to the residents of Yeongyang, the public officials working in town, and employees of the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) for the harm and concern caused.
We deeply regret having offended you. We made thoughtless remarks about the town of Yeongyang and its specialties, which may have elicited discontent for the locals. We sincerely apologize to the local residents who consider Yeongyang as their livelihood.
In our attempt to undo any damages done, we have contacted the Yeongyang County Office. While immediate actions may not follow, we will consistently strive to find ways to rectify our mistake in the future.
Thirdly, we apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable watching our content.
We sincerely apologize to all those who have supported us by watching the content on our comedy channel, and we deeply regret the disappointment we may have caused.
We, at Psick University, are comedians. As a result of this incident, we will reflect once again on the social role of comedians.
We have put in a lot of effort to create good comedy, but it seems that we still have room for improvement. We will continue to show the development of Psick University in the future.
Once again, we apologize to the residents of Yeongyang who have suffered from this incident and to our subscribers who have expressed concern.
*Upon issuing this apology, the Yeongyang episode will be removed from the channel.”
— Lee Yong Ju, Jung Jae Hyung, and Kim Min Soo
Still, netizens were not satisfied. They felt the apology and actions made were done belatedly. Besides, some felt the comedians already showed their true personalities through the video.
- “Should’ve deleted it earlier.”
- “I think the apology was well-written. But it came so late. The video was up for far too long, too. And they still haven’t addressed any of the other issues that resurfaced because of this incident. So it does make me wonder if the apology is sincere. In short… I don’t know that I’ll ever watch their stuff again.”
- “I hope I don’t ever come across their content again. Like, this apology is f*cking belated.”
- “Now I know not to associate with anyone who subscribes to this channel…”
- “You know why they didn’t take down the video earlier. I didn’t watch it, and I don’t think I’ll ever watch any of their stuff going forward.”
- “Sure, it’s late. But I think the apology was clean and not full of excuses. I think we should keep our eyes on them and see if they change.”
- “It’s a well-written apology, but I think the video already revealed what kind of people they really are. So I don’t think I’ll be watching any of their content.”
- “Sucks I can’t unsubscribe since I never subscribed to their channel.”
- “I actually like the fact that they revisited the businesses and apologized to them in person. That’s sincere. I’ve unsubscribed, so I won’t be watching their stuff again. But hopefully, they’ll be more thoughtful going forward.”
Around the same time, a now two-week-old episode of PSICK SHOW garnered attention for the wrong reasons. IVE’s Jang Wonyoung made a guest appearance.
The episode went viral with 6.4M views at the time of writing. Yet, netizens called our the channel for its thumbnail. They noticed that Wonyoung’s head covered the “PSICK SHOW” title enough that it could be misread as “F*CK.” The text is always clearly seen in other thumbnails from PSICK SHOW despite the guest’s pictures. It was also odd that the editor used her picture three times, excluding the hosts. Usually, it’s one large photo of the guest, with small images of the three hosts together.
Both international and Korean netizens believed this was an intentional and distasteful choice on the editor’s part. Many found it uncomfortable. They agreed that it was a wrong choice and should be edited.
- “Wow, didn’t even think about this. I thought they were showing off her face. These motherf*ckers.”
- “What’s so hard about being cautious? The fact that they haven’t taken down the video yet shows there’s something there.”
- “There is something wrong if there are reactions to this overseas.”
- “Huh? Why only Wonyoung’s?”
- “This bothered me when I first saw it too…”
- “So f*cking sly.”
- “If you look at the location of the past thumbnails, it doesn’t look like it was intended, but if it’s getting a negative response, they should fix it.”
- “I saw a comment saying it looked like the word ‘F*CK’ when the video first released.”
- “If you’ve done video editing before, you would know this was 100% done with intent. Even if you were trying to put Wonyoung in the center, you could have moved it down a little bit to show the ‘P.’ If anything, they could have just moved it over to the side a little bit. To say they didn’t really care? Doesn’t make sense. Editors know that thumbnails are really important. If they don’t, then they need to quit.”
- “Didn’t watch it, but just seeing this shows how low they are. Why did they only edit hers like that?”
- “Honestly there were a lot of things uncomfortable with her episode, but isn’t this really roasting…”
- “This is intentional…The text is always in that spot, but they just moved Wonyoung’s head to the front.”
- “The thumbnail is so obvious it was made with intent. I’m annoyed with that so I didn’t watch it.”
Although this episode was initially released two weeks ago, the channel finally updated the thumbnail. The thumbnail still only features Wonyoung, but the show’s title is now visible in its entirety.
Psick University also added a comment addressing the changed thumbnail. They claimed they had no ill intention with the original thumbnail but replaced it to “protect the image of our guest.”
Netizens were not impressed. Not only was it long overdue, but they did not take responsibility or apologize.
- “Disgusting.”
- “I said five hundred times that you can enlarge it in the center of your face and still make a proper thumbnail… the reaction that it can’t be helped was the most annoying.”
- “Pretending not to know.”
- “Damn, that’s why mocking with male-centric tendencies is so damn annoying, setting it up like that and saying, ‘Oh, there was no intention’… That’s why it’s damn annoying.”
- “Awkward nonsenseㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ It’s really disgusting.”
- “I can’t cancel because I didn’t subscribe.”
- “Takes a dump.”
- “Apologizing is like only apologizing to men. Even if there was no intention, if harm was done, an apology should be made.”
- “ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why was there no intention?”
- “Why no apology? Even if you don’t think there was intent, let’s say there was, then you still caused a commotion with your words, so an apology should be made. Why is it all hush-hush here? If incels are the only ones not getting bashed, is that where it ends?”
- “Nonsense, damnㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
At the time of writing, Psick University has 3.05M subscribers. So, they were still affected by the recent controversies, but they have begun to regain some of their lost subscribers.
You can read more about the initial controversy below.
“Psick University” Comedians Apologize Days After “Insulting” Video Causes National Criticism
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