Vietnam Television fined over ethnic headwear donned as loincloth scandal

Source: Pano feed

The Vietnam National Television (VTV) has recently received a fine for a performance in which a boy band used a local ethnic minority group’s traditional headwear as a loincloth.


On October 24, the Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications issued a decision to impose a VND15 million (US$706) penalty on VTV for the performance of a band called F in an episode of the first season of The X Factor Vietnam talent show broadcast on VTV3 channel on October 12.


In their performance at the semifinal round of the first season of the local version of British reality show The X Factor the four-member band donned the Pieu brocade, a traditional scarf which is a cultural symbol of the Thai ethnic group in the northwestern mountains, in the form of a loincloth.


According to the penalty, the usage of the brocade in the performance “was wrong and inappropriate, and has caused a negative impact on public opinion.”


After the performance was broadcast nationwide, it caused an outrage over local social networks, where many people said the performance offended the Thai ethnic minority’s culture.


VTV later took responsibility for the incident, explaining that it occurred because their stylist team is quite young and have no knowledge of the community’s traditional costumes.


Also, Cat Tien Sa Co., which produces the show, issued a document saying that it was sorry and added the outfits were hired from the Youth Culture House in HCMC, with the firm assuming that they were typical of the Ba Na or Ede ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.


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Đăng ký: VietNam News