South Korean football club FC Seoul on Monday issued an apology after they used sex dolls instead of mannequins to fill empty stands in their stadium during a K-League match against Gwangju FC on Sunday.
The K-league’s new season began on May 8 after being postponed for more than two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The league later announced that no fans would be allowed in stadiums and clubs used cardboard cutouts, placards and banners to fill up the stands.
However, according to The Korea Times, FC Seoul blamed their supplier who provided the mannequins and said it all happened because of a mix-up.
“We are sincerely sorry for causing deep concern to fans,” the club is quoted as saying by AFP.
Seoul reportedly insisted the mannequins – used in the absence of fans, who are banned because of the coronavirus – had “no connection to sex toys”.
“We tried to make sure the mannequins weren’t sex dolls multiple times,” the club added in a statement posted on Instagram.
“We take the blame on this point. We should have paid attention to details (when communicating with the supplier).”
“When we talked about this idea (filling the stands with dolls), it was only to add entertainment to the game which was to happen without any spectators,” the statement read.
FC Seoul won the match against Gwangju FC at the Seoul World Cup Stadium by 1-0.
But some of the artificial spectators, deployed for Sunday’s game against Gwangju FC, wore T-shirts with the logo of SoloS, a sex toy seller.
Other mannequins, which wore facemasks and were separated according to physical distancing guidelines, held placards advertising the company and some of its models.
(With AFP inputs)
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!