"Pronunciation Was Terrible"... 'The Tyrant's Chef' Chinese Voice Actor Sparks Controversy by Mocking Cast Member

Chinese Voice Actor Mocks Korean Actor's Pronunciation

A controversy has erupted after a Chinese voice actor who dubbed the lines of actor Jo Jaeyoon, who plays a Ming Dynasty chef in the tvN weekend drama 'The Tyrant's Chef,' left an online comment criticizing the actor's pronunciation as "terrible."

A scene featuring Ming Dynasty envoys in the tvN drama 'The Tyrant's Chef.' tvN Drama YouTube

In the episodes aired on September 6 and 7, the drama depicted Joseon chefs preparing to compete against Ming Dynasty envoys. All the actors playing the Ming envoys delivered their lines in Chinese, and Korean viewers followed along with subtitles. At this time, viewers noticed that Jo Jaeyoon's voice sounded different, leading to speculation that his lines had been dubbed by a Chinese voice actor.

In fact, viewers in Chinese-speaking regions initially praised Jo Jaeyoon's Chinese pronunciation. However, the situation escalated when a Chinese voice actor revealed on the Chinese social networking service Xiaohongshu that he had personally dubbed the lines. The controversy intensified not just because of the dubbing itself, but because the voice actor publicly mocked the original actor's pronunciation, stating, "The other actors were passable, but this person was terrible." He even posted on-set photos, adding, "Even the Korean producer couldn't help but laugh."

Comment left by a Chinese voice actor on social networking service (SNS). It has been deleted. Xiaohongshu

Chinese netizens who saw this responded, "Now I understand why his pronunciation was so accurate," and "I thought he was a Chinese actor, but it was dubbed." In contrast, Korean netizens criticized the voice actor, saying, "It's natural for foreign language pronunciation to be awkward, but was it really necessary to ridicule him publicly?" and "He lacks professionalism." Some also questioned, "Was it even necessary to act in Chinese?" The voice actor has since deleted his post.

Meanwhile, 'The Tyrant's Chef' has ranked in the TOP 10 of Netflix's global non-English TV shows for three consecutive weeks and placed in the rankings in 93 regions. It even reached number one in 44 countries, including Japan, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Ironically, however, Netflix is not officially available in China, where this dubbing controversy arose, making it impossible to watch the show there through the platform.