‘Under 15’ survival show cancelled … for now

In rare surprising news that’s positive, the controversial survival show Under 15 has been canceled, at least for now.

The controversial kids-only K-pop audition program “Under 15,” slated to premiere on MBN on March 31, canceled its airing amid accusations for sexualizing its young contestants.
“After deep consideration, we have decided that it will be best to cancel the scheduled broadcast and focus on protecting the participants and reorganizing the program,” its production team from Crea Studio said in a statement on Friday. 
MBN will no longer be the show’s broadcaster either, the production team added.
“Moving forward, we will do our best to produce the program in a way that ensures the essence of the show is not damaged while making sure the sincerity of the participants is properly delivered,” it said.  
MBN, which was initially to broadcast the show starting March 31, also confirmed Crea Studio’s stance and released a statement on the same day.

I say “for now” because it certainly doesn’t seem like the show’s abandoned permanently, which I figured would be the case after I saw it was already filmed. The wording makes it sound like they’re simply going to be shopping it around to other networks, perhaps rebranded.

Arguably though, the most uncomfortable thing about all this is how absurd a lot of the K-pop system looks when exposed to the public. Yes, a big problem with the show is making kids public figures and exposing them in that way, but a lot of what’s objectionable here is realistically just being a K-pop trainee at all. Still, there’s always a line for the public, and I guess I’m glad it was drawn somewhere.