When The Phone Rings is the latest K-drama on the block that has been grabbing eyeballs and topping the TRP charts for the past few weeks. However, it has also courted controversy with its first episode itself after a group of people accused the makers of “mocking” sign language.
The show starring Yoo Yeon-Seok and Chae Soo-Bin in the lead roles premiered on Netflix on November 22. In the show, Soo-Bin is seen working as a sign language interpreter in a news studio. In the first episode, one of the scenes showed a transmission error occurring in the middle of a telecast, with the programme freezing on Soo-Bin’s character showing the sign for the word ‘mountain’, but it mistakenly gets interpreted as an obscene hand gesture.
It did not just end there but Soo-Bin’s character is later seen using the same gesture as an insult for her husband on screen.
This did not go down well with a section of viewers who felt that the scene mocked sign language and the people who used it. Netizens complained on social media that the scene was offensive to those who use sign language and to the hearing impaired community.
The sign language club of the Chung-Ang University issued an official statement which read, “The sign for ‘mountain’ differs from the obscene gesture in form, but it has long been trivialized and turned into a joke by hearing individuals. For the Deaf community, this sign has become a source of trauma due to its repeated misuse and mockery.”
After the massive uproar online, the makers of When The Phone Rings formally issued an apology stating that they did not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments.
“We apologise for giving you cause for concern through part of a scene about sign language. The production team is taking very seriously the criticism that When the Phone Rings dealt with sign language inappropriately and, in the process, mocked the deaf and Korean sign language,” a part of the statement read.
When The Phone Rings revolves around a couple who got married in an arranged marriage set up. Despite living together for three years, they have never spoken a word with each other. The story kicks off when one night, a threatening call from a kidnapper turns their life upside down.
