Seoul Drama Awards criticized for giving award to Chinese drama suspected of copying ‘Hometown Cha Cha Cha’

Seoul Drama Awards faced a backlash from Korean netizens for its selection of winners

This year’s Seoul Drama Awards will be held at KBS Hall in Yeouido from September 20th to 22nd. Apart from Korean dramas, such as “Reborn Rich” and “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, dramas from other countries will also receive awards since it is an international drama awards ceremony.

However, a controversy arose amid fans’ anticipation for the event. Chinese drama “Meet Yourself”, which is suspected of plagiarizing the content of tvN’s “Hometown Cha Cha Cha”, has been selected as an award-winning work.

Starring famous Chinese actors Li Xian and Liu Yifei, “Meet Yourself” tells about a woman leaving the city and returning to the countryside then meeting a man there and having a beautiful romance. Many people were surprised to find out that the plot is similar to the main storyline of “Hometown Cha Cha Cha” although it’s not a remake.

In fact, the details of the settings were also similar. In “Meet Yourself”, the female and male leads also meet each other through bickering moments and the male lead also appears to help the female lead whenever she gets caught up in trouble at the village. Some viewers even pointed out similarities between the opening logos and rural village filming sets of the two dramas.

In response, netizens criticized Seoul Drama Awards, saying “They gave an award to a drama like that? I can’t believe it”, “Did they give the drama an award without watching it carefully? Please do the screening properly”, “It has already been controversial for copying ‘Hometown Cha Cha Cha’ since before”, etc.

Meanwhile, “Hometown Cha Cha Cha”, starring Kim Seon Ho and Shin Min Ah, aired from August to October 2021 on tvN. The drama was greatly loved for portraying a comic but sweet romance and telling many heartwarming stories of the villagers. 

Source: Daum