KING THE LAND slipped to third place

Netflix's Korean-language series Celebrity was the most-watched non-English TV show on the streamer in the previous week, its viewership chart showed Wednesday. Released on June 30, the 12-part show about the extravagant lives of social media influencers topped Netflix's non-English TV show list for the week of July 3-9 with 5.6 million viewing hours.

The story revolves around Seo Ari (played by Park Gyu-young), a cosmetics salesperson who finds herself in the midst of sudden social media stardom, which soon puts her in danger as she is bombarded with hateful messages.

This image captured from Netflix's official site shows the Korean drama series Celebrity being atop its weekly Top 10 chart for the most-viewed non-English shows on the platform in the week of July 3-9, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The JTBC romantic comedy series King the Land slipped two notches from the previous week to third place amid an online backlash over its controversial portrayal of an Arabic prince character. In its seventh and eighth episodes, which aired on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, the prince drinks alcohol and flirts with women, drawing negative feedback from viewers in Middle Eastern nations. Some criticized the show's hiring of an Indian actor to play the Arabic character and demanded an apology from the Korean cable channel.

By Kim Eun-jung