DUBAI: “King the Land,” a South Korean romantic comedy-drama that is streaming internationally on Netflix, has sparked outrage among Arab audiences over an Arab character played by Indian actor Anupam Tripathi.
The character, Prince Samir, is seen wearing traditional Arab attire and sitting at a bar in what appears to be a nightclub, drinking alcohol while surrounded by women. He is depicted as being arrogant, flirtatious and extremely wealthy, prompting audiences to accuse producers of promoting offensive, unfair stereotypes.
In one scene, the prince arrives at a hotel and is presented with a gift of a traditional Korean knot bracelet which is green because, as another character puts it, “green is associated with abundance, sanctity and paradise in the Arab world.”
The decision to hire an Indian actor to play an Arab character was also criticized.
I was enjoying watching an episode of King of the Land, but when this scene came, I got angry. This is not what the Arabs look like! First, the non-Arab actor, Is it that difficult to bring an Arab actor? #KdramaOffendsTheArabs @SBS8news @YTN24 @KBSnews @NetflixKR
(@jtbclove) pic.twitter.com/JujSLDqOEy
— رُبـىٰ/루바✨. (@forestella44) July 10, 2023
I was enjoying king in the land until they decided to show that lousy guy as an “Arab”.
— Khadijah Mahuta Esq (@MrsMatawalle) July 11, 2023
King the land is great and all but their arab representation is a guy who came to buy warplanes and simps for every lady wow arabcore
— LazyMon (@_lazymon_) July 11, 2023
King the land was such a good romcom series before ep7... like really do we still have to do these "arab" stereotypes not even talking about them casting an Indian actor as an Arab or the clothes....
— Nano (@selbyulie) July 8, 2023
In response to the criticisms, the makers of the show said there was “no intention to satirize or distort a specific culture” and the production team “respects various cultures and will pay more attention to production.”
According to Netflix charts, “King the Land” is currently the second-most-watched show on the platform in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
