"Censorship Must Not Return"... Rapper Criticizes Ruling Party's 'Hate Speech Prevention Music Bill'

Rapper E Sens: "Who sets the standards and makes the decisions?"

"If a song is uncomfortable, individuals can simply choose not to listen"

Rapper E Sens (real name Kang Minho, age 39) has raised concerns about the so-called "Hate Speech Prevention Music Bill" proposed by the ruling party, arguing that it could infringe on freedom of expression.

On July 11, E Sens expressed his opinion through his social media, stating, "Censorship should not be revived. Who sets the standards and who has the authority to decide?" He added, "If someone finds a song uncomfortable to listen to, that individual can simply choose not to consume it. It's like saying that just because there are shooting games, the games themselves should be banned."

Rapper Esense. Yonhap News Agency

The issue E Sens raised concerns the amendments to the "Act on the Promotion of the Music Industry" and the "Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc." sponsored by Assemblyman Kim Hyun of the Democratic Party of Korea. The main points of these amendments are to encourage music distributors to exercise self-regulation in the process of releasing music by minors, and to establish an emergency response system by the Korea Communications Commission.

When proposing the bill, Assemblyman Kim explained, "While freedom of creation must be respected, we cannot leave the situation unaddressed where music that incites hate and crime is distributed online without restrictions and has a negative impact on educational settings and society as a whole. To address the lack of verification measures and delays in review during the process of music releases by minors, the aim is to encourage responsible self-regulation by music distributors and to have the Korea Communications Commission establish an emergency response system."

Meanwhile, E Sens also commented on the recent controversy regarding the dialect used by Le Sserafim member Woni, which was alleged to resemble online slang from Ilbe. He pointed out, "Because of Ilbe, my hometown dialect is now seen as something strange. It's ridiculous."

E Sens debuted as a rapper in 2003 through a Daegu hip-hop crew. He also formed a duo called Supreme Team with rapper Simon Dominic, who was active in the Busan area, and later entered the broadcasting industry. However, in 2012 and 2015, he was prosecuted twice for marijuana use, receiving a suspended sentence and then 1 year and 6 months in prison. Since then, he has focused on releasing music rather than appearing on television.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.