K-Drama 'True Beauty' star Cha Eun Woo faces backlash over maskless group photo

Massively successful K-drama "True Beauty" fought criticism after its lead actor, Cha Eun Woo, shared a group photo that showed the cast and crew huddled closely together without properly wearing their face masks.

The South Korean star only wanted to thank everyone for all their hard work on the show and had not thought of the backlash his post would incite. He initially shared three pictures on Feb. 5 on his Instagram. The first showed him and co-star Moon Ga Young on the beach. The second showed him and the actress greeting Hwang in Yeop with a cake on his birthday.

The third picture caught the most interest because it showed the cast and crew posing for a group shot without following social distancing measures. Most of them also did not have their face masks on. The EXO singer included the following message to the snaps, "To the staff, cast, and crew of 'True Beauty,' you all worked hard. Thank you to everyone who supported 'True Beauty' and Suho'."

One Knet user slammed the cast and crew of "True Beauty" for not adhering to South Korea's guidelines against the COVID-19 pandemic. The person wrote, "These celebrities make me really angry" and explained why.

"Many people gathered to take pictures, and only about 10 people wore proper masks. Many of them also wore masks that expose their noses or pull-down under their chins. Most of them even did not wear a mask. Although the government has instructed people to be careful and to keep distance, to keep hygiene, these people did not care," the user, via Kbizoom, pointed out.

"Is Cha Eun Woo the one who posted this? Is he crazy?" another commented and one more chimed in, "Why didn't they really get punished for gathering more than 5 people?"

In the wake of the backlash, Cha Eun Woo deleted the photos from his Instagram. The production staff of "True Beauty" also issued an apology on Sunday in which they admitted to their carelessness.

"We apologize for causing many people concern due to the staff group photo taken after the end of filming. During the filming of 'True Beauty,' we strictly followed the rules on preventing infection transmission and were able to finish filming safely," reads the statement published by Soompi.

"However, we ended up causing people concern with the photo taken to commemorate the end of filming where we temporarily took off our masks. We will do our best to create a safe set in which there is not a single moment in which we are careless about the rules."

The backlash was warranted given that a crew member previously tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, the production staff of "True Beauty" promised to adhere to all safety and health guidelines amid the pandemic.