Embattled Korean actor Kim Seon-ho is leading the votes in the popularity award for actor in the 2021 Asia Artist Awards (AAA).
AAA “is the first-ever award which selects artists from both K-Pop and K-Drama and K-Movie for the year, based on their performance who excelled in Korea as well as in Asian region,” according to its website.
The 2021 Asia Artist Awards ceremony will be held on Dec. 2 at the KBS Arena in Seoul.
The U+ IDOLLIVE Popularity Award is 100 percent fan-voted and will select the winners in male group, female group, female solo, male solo, actor and actress. The first round of voting is from Oct. 22 to Nov. 5 while the second round of voting will be until Nov. 15.
Kim Seon-ho, who starred in the Korean drama "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha," became embroiled in controversy involving his former girlfriend who accused him of forcing her to abort their baby last year with the promise of marriage. He apologized to her and to the public.
As a result, Kim Seon-ho was removed as a regular cast member of the Korean reality TV show “2 Days & 1 Night” and was dropped from three upcoming films.
"We've decided to remove Kim. We will cut out takes of him from upcoming shows as much as possible to minimize the discomfort of our viewers,” according to the show’s producers, Yonhap News reported on Oct. 20.
In the Oct. 24 episode of “2 Days & 1 Night,” which was filmed before the abortion controversy erupted, Kim Seon-ho was edited out except in full shots. He was cropped out of scenes on the show.
The show focused on the remaining members: Ravi, DinDin, Yeon Jung-hoon, Kim Jong-min and Moon Se-yoon.
Based on data from Nielsen Korea, the Oct. 24 episode of “2 Days & 1 Night” rose in ratings. It garnered a nationwide rating of 10.5 percent, higher than 10.1 percent recorded for the Oct. 17 episode of the show.
In the Seoul metropolitan area, the latest episode received 10 percent, higher than 8.8 percent for the previous episode.
The remaining five members will film the 100th episode of “2 Days & 1 Night” on Oct. 29.
As of 9 a.m. of Oct. 25, here are the leaders in the popularity award for actor in the 2021 Asia Artist Awards:
1. Kim Seon-ho - 41.2% (95,957 votes)
2. Cha Eun-woo - 23.5% (54,714 votes)
3. Doyoung (NCT) - 12.3% (28,713 votes)
4. Park Jin-young (GOT7) - 4.3% (9,969 votes)
5. Song Joong-ki - 3.9% (9,014 votes)
6. Hwang Min Hyun - 3.6% (8,323 votes)
7. Song Kang - 1.5% (3,394 votes)
8. Lee Dohyun - 1.2% (2,691 votes)
9. Lee Seung-gi - 0.9% (2,143 votes)
10. Lee Joon-ho - 0.8% (1,881 votes)