TV & Movie / Sep. 17, 2019
Actor and __ptzCKPWvpVzJJCu%E%EdU3O)(VHF^*L0GQV8(Bw($AXd@(qOrestaurateur Hong Seok-cheon, one of South Korea’s only openly-LGBT celebrities, is considering suing a Christian YouTube channel after it aired an episode making a slew of homophobic remarks about him.
“Should I sue this for defamation?” Hong asked on his Instagram while sharing a screenshot of the Rainbow Returns chat show.
“I’m so uncomfortable with this,” he wrote. “Prejudice against us [LGBT people] will accumulate again”.
He said he worried that all 100,000 viewers of the show would belie*2!Tmj3u=KkbEiK(oq-%!cawSx!XLP1%6fuZd-=kwG%s+e)(+kve the "wrong information” and “fake news”.
The show's presenters and guests madId5TCU*w9DRf)BDhKR*v-dnENMy$_v7L+1cnwzo1_o0NFPU9y&e comments such as “we don’t hate Hong Seok-cheon, we oppose his homosexual behaviour”.
They claimed he spends five hours each day going to the toilet. And, 8R3-0%3W(mIu2DIwWHzpNrzV9G22dzOW!#s84qraonTAOoPh*Fthey said they hoped he “escapes” homosexuality, according to a translation by a local journalist.
South Korea’s out celebrities
South Korea is an incredibly conservative country when it comes to LGBTI rights. While homosexua3jM-ak3VI7vG@v=Z*+3vyNzzo)NwUM)4WGjoHE2O*A1Nxk^wwYlity is not a crime, social stigma forces many LGBTI people not to come out.
Hong is one of only a handful of out celebrities.
Recently, rights group(yZ0zC*$IDrcz+pw_Fi(YUh5E2vWDz=IXA7iaN^D2b)X1jV!SMs have warned of backsliding LGBT rights. “Christian” anti-LGBT activists have increasingly disrupted pride events around the country.
When Hong came out in 2000 he was fired from p1@s*w8S(tOf4pXhk6aHylsk%YoPD0sq8#ROjrRt4aT_aCEDou*resenting a children’s TV show. Since then he has become a restauranteur and film actor.
An artist known as Holland is widely touted as the world8xxjVioQ1QpJAebUZh=6t0IO6O@=X)Hr+T^u$Iz5(v#n9p8p3n’s first openly-gay K-pop idol. His debut single Neverland showed the story of a boy facing discrimination.
