'Pretending it didn't happen?' Chinese drama criticised for using photo of Blackpink's Rose as sex worker

A Chinese drama series has earned the ire of Blackpink fans after a photo of Rose was used to represent a sex worker in the show. 

In the original scene of the show Justice in the Dark, police officer Luo Weizhao (Fu Xinbo) conceals his identity to investigate a case, and enters a hotel to request for sexual services.

Staff at the counter then hand him a photo catalogue of women.

In response, Weizhao said: "These photos are so heavily photoshopped that even their mothers can't recognise them!"

But fans recognised a photo that looked very similar to one taken of Blackpink's Rose.

When a screengrab of the scene and Rose's photo is placed side by side, the pose, appearance, background and even the mobile phone's positioning are identical.

The only differences are that the woman seen in the drama's picture has a fairer skin tone and wears a different shade of lipstick. 

Chinese media reports say the scene has since been removed without any explanation from the production team.

And netizens aren't too pleased by their course of action thus far.

"Can you please apologise? This is so disrespectful," one netizen said.

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Another said: "Are you pretending it didn't happen after deleting it? Aren't you going to apologise or explain?"

One also commented: "Couldn't you have found some other actors and taken pictures of them instead? Why did you have to use someone else's photos?"

Other netizens also questioned if the photos of the other women in the catalogue were taken in a similar fashion.

The production team behind Justice in the Dark has since issued an apology, Mirror Media reported.

On behalf of the company in charge of the art team, the apology stated: "Due to the negligence of our team, we accidentally used the photograph of Rose in the show. This has a negative impact on the image and reputation of Rose.

"We would like to sincerely apologise to Rose, fans who love Rose, the production company, the broadcasting platform and viewers for any adverse effects."

The apology also expressed thanks to "fans and friends" for correcting their mistake and assured that they would "work more rigorously" to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Additionally, the company said they are also reaching out to Rose's agency to apologise.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com