Three years after filming wrapped, highly-anticipated Korean rom-com When The Stars Gossip, which stars Lee Min Ho and Gong Hyo Jin, finally premiered on January 4.
In the Netflix drama, Min Ho plays an OB-GYN who is forced to go on a secret mission to a space station and Hyo Jin’s character, an elite space scientist, is the mission commander.
Written by Seo Sook Hyang of Jealousy Incarnate fame, the series took five years to develop.
With its unique storyline set in space, impressive 50bil won (S$47mil) budget and A-list cast, fans had high expectations.
However, viewers were not impressed from the first episode and have slammed the drama for its “misogynistic” dialogue and for being disrespectful to women.
Some of the problematic lines, which was uttered by Min Ho’s character, include “I worked hard to get into medical school, only to end up looking at women’s uteruses every day and delivering babies”, “Though they smell of cigarettes, aunties have large, warm chests”, and “If you want to play with pretty sisters, you have to pay up”.
Netizens took to social media to express their displeasure with the show’s producers and actors for going ahead with the script.
“It’s 2025, and we still see such misogynistic and vulgar lines in dramas,” remarked one netizen, while another said: “This line is not even from the 2010s, it’s more like the early 2000s. It’s so childish and outdated that I gave up after watching the first episode.”
A third remarked: “So this is why [the drama] wasn’t aired until now…”
Other complaints include the unrealistic CGI effects and dull plot.