Ha Young's "Collaboration Controversy" → Cho Jin-woong's "Retirement".. Lee Je-hoon's Hard Times [★FOCUS]

*This content was translated by AI.

Actor Lee Je-hoon’s shoulders have grown heavy once again.

Despite establishing himself as South Korea’s representative “actor you can trust” thanks to his solid acting skills and keen eye for selecting quality projects, ironically, factors outside of his work continue to constantly hold him back. Even though Lee Je-hoon bears not even 1% of the blame, he repeatedly faces the cruel reality of having to shoulder the heavy burden as a lead actor when fatal personal life controversies and past scandals involving his co-stars erupt. This is already the third time he has faced such unjust misfortune.

The most recent issue troubling Lee Je-hoon involves Ha Young, his co-star in SBS’s upcoming drama “There Is Hope,” scheduled to air in the first half of next year. Recently, during an appearance on a variety show, Ha Young proudly mentioned her family’s four-generation legacy as medical professionals. However, this statement immediately backfired and turned into a major crisis. Fatal suspicions of collaboration with Japan emerged surrounding the activities of her great-grandfather, physician Ahn Sang-ho.

Initially, Ha Young’s agency, Vistars Entertainment, acknowledged on the 10th that her great-grandfather was indeed physician Ahn Sang-ho but strongly denied the collaboration allegations as baseless. However, after various suspicions regarding Ahn Sang-ho’s activities were confirmed as factual, the agency abruptly reversed its official stance and issued an apology on the 11th.

Ha Young’s side stated, “Upon further verification, we confirmed that records actually exist showing her great-grandfather, Mr. Ahn Sang-ho, was listed as a member of the Daetong Friendship Association in 1916. We sincerely apologize for causing confusion by hastily responding ‘baseless’ without sufficient verification.” They added, “We deeply regret that this controversy arose unintentionally. The actor himself is also feeling extremely burdened by the situation. Our company has come to realize how crucial careful verification is when conveying historical facts and an individual’s biography to the public. Ha Young will also take this matter to heart and approach it with humility.”

The jinx of Lee Je-hoon’s “co-star risk” dates back to 2021. In May of that year, during the filming of SBS’s popular drama “Model Taxi” Season 1, actress Lee Na-eun, who was cast in a major role, had to exit the project amid bullying controversies within her girl group April. At the time, most of the drama’s filming was already completed, but the production team ultimately made the decision to replace Lee Na-eun and urgently brought in actor Pyo Ye-jin.

This forced a complete reshoot, requiring them to discard numerous completed scenes and restart everything from sets to blocking and emotional arcs. Fortunately, “Model Taxi” achieved massive box office success and received a happy ending, but the process Lee Je-hoon had to endure as the lead actor was excessively cruel.

Despite the pain of reshoots experienced during “Model Taxi,” another cruel incident struck in an even more devastating form—cutting off the drama’s very lifeline. In August last year, Lee Je-hoon successfully completed all filming for the tvN drama “Signal 2.” This ambitious project had been carefully developed over a long period through pre-production.

However, just four months later in December of the same year, an unprecedented situation occurred: shocking revelations about senior co-star Cho Jin-woong’s past as a juvenile offender surfaced. Facing moral condemnation and public backlash, Cho Jin-woong ultimately announced his retirement from the entertainment industry and disappeared from public view.

The direct blow fell entirely on “Signal 2” and Lee Je-hoon. With all filming already completed, there was no possibility of replacing actors or conducting reshoots—a situation as difficult as climbing a mountain range. Consequently, the drama, which had lost its lead actor overnight, saw its broadcast schedule indefinitely suspended and drifted aimlessly.

Lee Je-hoon has now faced three times the crisis of lead actor replacement, complete reshoots, and indefinite broadcast suspension—challenges that are difficult to endure even once. Behind his dazzling filmography, ironically, an unjust label of “co-star controversy” stubbornly follows him.

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*This content was translated by AI.