Rain - Colbert feud continues

I missed it.  On Monday, there was a dance-off between Colbert and his 'arch-nemesis'--Rain "비" perhaps the most popular K-pop star, who's making his Hollywood debut in "SpeedRacer."

This Rain-Colbert 'feud' began last year when Colbert was incensed, in the usual Colbert fashion, that Rain was named by Time in April 2006, as one of the "100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World." In 2007, Rain was voted by Time Magazine's online user poll as the most influential person in 2007, although he didn't make it into the magazine's actual list.

Colbert taunted Rain last year on his show and it created a bit of controversy in Korea.  So much so that many bloggers had to play cultural intermediary, explaining Colbert's persona to nonplussed Koreans.

Here's an excerpt of one such open-letter to the Korean 'nation' by Robert Allen of AsiaMedia Daily:

[q
url="http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=70367"]Regarding a recent episode of the American comedy show The Colbert Report and the reaction that Koreans have had to it, I feel an obligation to set the record straight. Korean Nation: by giving his American audience a brief glimpse of the singer Rain and Korean pop music in general, Stephen Colbert has done more good for your country and its culture than you could possibly imagine.

In essence, Stephen Colbert has handed your country a marvelous gift, and I would encourage you to understand exactly how he has done so.

First, some important background information about the American Media Culture. In America, one can find a number of television and radio programs hosted by power-hungry, ego-driven, ultra-conservative spokesmen....

Korean Nation: The Colbert Report is a perfect satire of all that is laughable about those hate-filled programs. The character Colbert portrays on his program is so extreme in his comments; he is so consumed by the importance of his own ego and so clueless as to the absurdity of his thinking that, well, he’s exactly like the men he is parodying. His "rant" against Rain is a perfect example of Colbert’s character taking himself much too seriously.

Look at the facts: Only a fool would be indignant at being outvoted by a Korean pop star in Time Magazine’s poll. Only a clueless individual would then go on national television and rave about his newest "nemesis," and only a deranged human would make his own music video in an attempt to show that he is the more talented individual while wearing a bizarre combination of fashions, including misfired hip-hop, Korean trendiness and button-down Ivy League.

Finally, only an individual with a serious lack of taste would produce this music video singing what he truly believes to be a quality Korean pop song with his rather limited Korean vocabulary (Hyundai, kimchi, etc), while creating a new dance style one could possibly call Korean-hiphop-techno-constipation. And somebody is offended by this?...

My prediction: Rain will soon be a guest on Colbert’s program. Trust me. It’s a good thing.[/q]

Allen was right in his prediction, a year late, but nevertheless, right.  And just in time for the release of SpeedRacer.