Released in 2020, Get Schooled (also known as True Education) is a popular South Korean webtoon written by Yongtaek Chae and illustrated by Garam Han. Set in YLAB’s Blue String Universe, the series takes place in a dystopian South Korea where bullying has reached alarming levels. The government, desperate for a solution, passes a law allowing government agents to visit problematic schools and get the students back on track by ANY means necessary.
Ever since it began, Get Schooled has consistently held the top spot at Naver Webtoon’s Monday rankings in Korea. Due to such continued success, it has been published internationally in seven countries, including France, the US, and Japan. However, on September 16, 2023, Naver Webtoon announced that it was suspending Get Schooled indefinitely.
The ‘Get Schooled’ Episode that Sparked Controversy and Got It Canceled
The latest episode of Get Schooled, Episode 125, stirred up a lot of controversy because it was accused of being racist. The episode centered around a young Korean boy living in a village primarily populated by dark-skinned mixed-race people. The big bad bully of this arc was Lee Mukhyun, a mixed-race student of Ethiopian descent who was drawn very stereotypically. In the episode, the anti-bullying government agency sends rookie agent Daniel, a half-white Korean man, to confront the issue. What follows is an inevitable confrontation between Daniel and Lee — Lee hurls an insult at Daniel, saying, “YOUR SKIN COLOR IS ATROCIOUS, YOU MONKEY!” Daniel responds by calling Lee the n-word. And the worst part is that the episode portrays this as a cathartic and righteous moment.
Obviously, racism is an important problem, especially in school settings. And addressing such issues through storytelling can be a powerful tool. Still, there are better ways to deal with such a heavy topic than resorting to derogatory words. There’s a difference between shedding light on racism and being racist; the creators of Get Schooled failed to see where that line was.
‘Get Schooled’ Gets Schooled on Social Media
Naturally, when the episode dropped, the internet reacted. Fans flooded Twitter and TikTok, critiquing the webtoon’s use of racial slurs. The readers’ frustration was directed not only at the webtoon creators but also at Naver Webtoon’s silence on the matter. One outraged fan wrote on Twitter, “Where is the official statement?? Why is the webtoon not removed from ALL platforms?? You have no idea how many black readers support your app. Perhaps a #boycottwebtoon is in order!”
Readers also hated Lee’s design as compared to Daniel’s. The first time a black character is featured in the webtoon, he’s drawn with cartoonish and exaggerated features. And immediately gets called the worst racial slur by the story’s hero, who’s a blond-haired, blue-eyed half Caucasian and drawn with a very conventionally attractive face. Fans took to Twitter and started sharing their own drawings of Lee to bring justice to the character who was horribly massacred by the artists. On TikTok, several content creators in the Webtoon community also spoke out, with one fan asking, “Why would you think that the best option to fight racism… is to be racist?” Adding, “There is no excuse for this poor writing. There is no excuse for the poor art choices that you decided to use to portray Black people.”
‘Get Schooled’ Creators Respond
On September 16, 2023, the creators of Get Schooled, Yongtaek Chae and Garam Han, responded to the backlash with a statement posted on their Instagram Story. In the statement, they explained that their intention was to shed light on the issue of racism, which is becoming a critical societal concern in South Korea. However, in focusing on South Korea’s multicultural family issues, they overlooked the broader universal facets of discrimination. The creators expressed regret, recognizing that certain expressions used were inadvertently racist.
“We failed to recognize how certain expressions are racist, even if employed for dramatic effect, causing enormous pain to our readers and the wider Webtoon community.” They continue, “But there is no excuse for the imagery and language used in this episode. All we can do now is apologize and promise to do better.” On the same day, Naver Webtoon announced that Get Schooled would be discontinued on its North American platform, and the relevant episodes would be deleted in South Korea. Additionally, Get Schooled would be put on an extended hiatus, with no clear plans for when or if it will return.
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