SBS responds to controversy surrounding 'My Sassy Girl' casting

Recently, the drama was caught up in a controversy forsuddenly dropping Kim Hyun Joo, the actress who was supposed to play the female lead in 'My Sassy Girl,' and going for the more established Oh Yeon Seo.  

SBS stated, "RaemongRaeinandH.Brothers, the companies in charge of producing 'My Sassy Girl,' usedMidas Entertaining's all-cast site to hold an 'online public audition' with the aim of selecting the actress that will be playing opposite the male lead. However, SBS never officially participated in or discussed matters related to promotions and the planning or procedures of the online casting event."

SBS further stated, "With the drama production company's unilateral operation of the online casting, the breadth for application qualifications broadenedexcessively in scope, causing the adverse effect of unqualified people to apply [for the role] in mass numbers. When the public noted this adverse effect, the management agencies in charge of securing volunteers for the female lead role did not support the online casting," explaining that they had promised nothing regarding the casting procedures. 

SBS also addressed the netizens' 45% score, stating, "One applicant had appeared in a drama right before the online casting event, so a majority of netizen votes went to her, and for the actresses without much acting experience, they earned votes based on their currently existing fan base, negating the guarantee for fairness.The faults and the non-transparency of this audition process was clearly exposed through the netizen screening. The actress who was selected through a [physical] audition actually earned a score that was 20% lower than the actress who was selected as the first choice in the netizen screening." 

Further, SBS headquarter employee ProducerOh Jin Seokrelayed, "We cannot select a female lead that will secure the completion of 'My Sassy Girl' through a faulty audition process such as an online audition casting, and because we judged that we cannot uphold the means of discovering new talent through such a publicized process, we did not participate at all in the audition procedure conducted by the external production companies." 

A drama rep also clarified the rumors thatKim Yoon Hyeis now the female lead, saying, "Nothing is confirmed. We're still in the discussion stages."