[HanCinema's News] "The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won" Tops Content Power Index

On February 3rd CJENM released the latest iteration of the Content Power Index, which tracks which television dramas are the most talked about on social media as well as other metrics. The winner for this tabulation period, the third week of January (from the 17th to the 23rd) showed the historical drama "The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won" in the top spot. But the reasons for this are largely ignominious, as this was the week of the drama's infamous animal abuse controversy.

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This was the first time that "The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won" had even ranked in the top ten of the Content Power Index since its premiere in December. The offending scene in question took place in the seventh episode, and dealt with a horse being ridden by King Taejo, who is played by Kim Young-chul. A behind-the-scenes video showed that the horse in question had been forcibly tied down during the filming process, which violates laws regarding animal abuse.

"The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won" has stopped airing in the three weeks since then in the wake of the outrage. The last episode to air, the 12th, was on January 16th and it's as yet unclear if or when the drama will return. Elsewhere in the CPI rankings, "Our Beloved Summer" had a rating of 280.8, "Young Lady and Gentleman" had a rating of 253.3, and "Snowdrop" had a rating of 250.8.

Written by William Schwartz