Yang Se-chan Faces Criticism for Repeatedly Hitting Ji Ye-eun on “Running Man”
On May 13, various online platforms featured a post titled “Yang Se-chan‘s hitting Ji Ye Eun‘s head”. The post included a scene from the May 11 broadcast of Running Man.
In the episode, the cast was participating in a penalty segment. The rule stated that one member of the losing team could be spared punishment. To avoid the penalty, Ji Ye-eun called out “Oppa” with a smile toward Yoo Seung-ho. In response, Yang Se-chan shouted “Stop it! I’m sick of hearing it” and pushed her arm and head.
This isn’t the first time Yang has been seen hitting Ji Ye-eun’s head. During an episode aired in October 2024, while participating in a “random quiz”, Yang Se-chan was caught hitting Ji Ye-eun’s head after Haha failed to answer a question correctly.
Viewers expressed strong disapproval after watching the scene, “Why hit someone’s head?”, “No matter how close they are, that’s unacceptable”, “It’s inappropriate behavior regardless of gender”, “Who even touches someone’s head like that these days?”, “Even while watching it live, I thought that was wrong”, “It’s not okay, even as a joke” and “He seriously needs to fix that bad habit.”
However, some offered a more lenient view, “Maybe they’re just that close” and “He didn’t seem to mean any harm, but he should be more careful in the future.”
[Running Man] has been at the center of controversy multiple times before. In 2023, the show aired an unfiltered argument containing curse words among the cast. Although the audio was censored with a “beep” and subtitles used “X” symbols, the context made the expletives obvious. Additionally, a scene parodying a soju-bomb mixing scene from the R-rated film [Inside Men] was aired, prompting further criticism. The Korea Communications Standards Commission issued a formal recommendation (an administrative guidance) to SBS in response.
Despite its 15-year history and continued popularity, [Running Man] remains under scrutiny, with growing calls for the cast to exercise more self-awareness and professionalism on screen.
