Yoo Hee Yeol has decided to leave "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook" after 13 years. As the show will now come to a close, a broadcasting official revealed its cancellation had nothing to do with the singer-songwriter's plagiarism controversy but with the criticisms he saw on MBC's "100 Minute Discussion."
Yoo Hee Yeol reportedly broke down after seeing the discussion between the Boohwal leader Kim Tae Won and the music critic Im Jin Mo about his plagiarism issue. This allegedly affected him badly that he decided to leave "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook."
Sports Seoul quoted the broadcasting official, via AllKpop, saying the 51-year-old radio DJ had a strong attachment to his 13-year-old show that ran for 600 episodes. However, he reportedly "completely collapsed" after watching his musical colleagues criticizing him, portraying him as an "unscrupulous plagiarist."
From there, the Antenna Music founder informed his production team of his decision to leave "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook." Though they tried to stop him, he was already determined.
Yoo Hee Yeol had already acknowledged the plagiarism controversy and issued an official apology. At the time, he said he had no intention to leave "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook" and KBS did its best to protect him by closing the audience bulletin board, which was the show's communication channel.
However, the network didn't manage to protect him from his fellow artists' criticisms. Yoo Hee Yeol was said to be "seriously hurt" after hearing Kim Tae Won and Im Jin Mo's talk about him.
Kim Tae Won likened plagiarism to a disease often neglected in the country. Im Jin Mo then called Yoo Hee Yeol "educated enough" to do such a thing, adding the issue he was tangled on was about morality.
Aside from "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook," Yoo Hee Yeol would also leave JTBC's "New Festa."
In a statement released on Tuesday, July 19, Yoo Hee Yeol admitted there were parts of plagiarism allegations he found hard to accept. So, he decided to self-reflect further to avoid these controversies from happening again.
Meanwhile, Star Today reported "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook" filmed its final episode on July 19, per Soompi. In a statement, Yoo Hee Yeol's agency, Antenna, said the show would wrap up after the end of episode 600.
The production team, alternatively, said KBS accepted Yoo Hee Yeol's decision to leave the show. The July 22 broadcast would be aired as usual and after that, "Yoo Hee Yeol's Sketchbook" would be off the air.
