MAMA Japan, held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, was live streamed via Mnet on November 22. Hong Jin Young took the stage as the award presenter, starting her speech with a calm tone:
“I didn’t realize the atmosphere at MAMA was so electrifying. The energy here is amazing. Being here makes me think, ‘Wow, what is this place?'”
At first, while delivering her remarks smoothly, Hong appeared momentarily flustered. His tone became awkward as he shared his impressions of the event, then suddenly he asked, “Can you enlarge the size of the tip text?“
Even after his initial request, he seemed to have difficulty with the small text on the monitor, which repeated: “Could you make the tip text a little bigger?As the tension rose, the camera panned to the audience, capturing the performers and eliciting applause to spread the mood.
Hong continued with his hosting duties, signaling with his fingers to emphasize his request for a larger text. Despite the hiccups, he successfully announced Tomorrow X Together (TXT) as the winner of the Fan’s Choice award, avoiding a serious on-air incident.
Online communities and social media platforms quickly picked up on the incident, with keywords such as “The Hong Jin Kyung Prompter Incident” and trending “Hong Jin Kyung’s vision problems.”
Critics argued that Hong’s reliance on the prompter demonstrated a lack of preparation, while others defended her, pointing out that the MAMA Awards the production team should have anticipated potential difficulties due to his age and adjusted the size of the prompter for better visibility.
THE MAMA Awards 2024 will continue with Chapter 2 at the same venue in Osaka on November 23, with a red carpet event at 1pm and the awards ceremony starting at 3pm.
Source: Xsport News
