>An animated promotional video for Nexon’s online game MapleStory was taken down over the weekend after some viewers called the animator a feminist and accused them of deliberately planting a controversial hand gesture, associated with misandry, throughout the video.

>Studio Ppuri, the animation production company behind the video, and animator TOMOGY, issued statements online apologizing for any possible controversies but denied accusations that any hand gestures were purposefully placed as political symbols.

>The hand gesture in question is a pinching motion using the index and thumb finger, which had been used as a symbol in the now-defunct Megalia, one of Korea’s largest radical feminist online communities, to ridicule the size of Korean men’s genitals.

>Nexon took down the video a minute after midnight on Sunday and uploaded a statement right after, saying “We apologize for causing trouble by not making careful examinations during the promotional [video] production process.”

>MapleStory Director Kim Chang-Seop also opened a YouTube livestream on Sunday to apologize. "We are firmly opposed to a culture where blind hate is directed to others, while no shame is felt in revealing them, as well as people who find delight in secretly revealing such [hate]," he said.

>Studio Ppuri also published a statement apologizing for the controversy. The studio promised to take action by editing the videos and said they would exclude the animation staff behind the video from any future promotional video production.

>“I absolutely do not agree with feminist or feminism ideologies; rather, I am against feminist ideology and actions,” the statement put out by animator TOMOGY, the subject of criticism, read.

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-11-27/business/industry/Online-game-promo-removed-after-hateful-feminist-gesture-accusations/1922122
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