The ministry promoted the programme as part of the campaign, and the show will continue to air without the Government’s support.
“It was never the intention of this collaboration to endorse crime or delinquency, nor to glorify or trivialise these acts from someone’s past,” the ministry said on Friday (local time).
“But we have received a lot of concerns and criticism that it can cause discomfort among people victimised by crimes,” it said, adding that the partnership will be terminated.
Badly in Love Season 2 came under fire after an episode aired in which one cast member confessed that, as a teen, he had been arrested for setting someone on fire to prove he was “not chickening out”.
The cancellation of the campaign, however, “isn’t meant to deny efforts to help rehabilitate people who committed crimes in the past”, the ministry said.
Badly in Love executive producer Dai Ota told AFP in April that before running Season 1 the production team had “extensive internal discussions” to ensure the show would not be perceived as “condoning the violence”.
“Our hope was to show that these young people – who have often been marginalised or labelled as ‘social outcasts’ – are simply youths who worry, struggle and genuinely grow,” he said.
– AFP