TV & Movie / Sep. 17, 2019
Actor and restaurateur Hong Seok-cheon, one of South Korea’s onlJ&9v$Ae^T-ky6&tvF7C*13t7yvL#H6@c))a(P)1qeSP#S=4nyWy openly-LGBT celebrities, is considering suing a Christian YouTube channel after it aired an episode making a slew of homophobic remarks about him.
“Should I sue this for defamation?” Hong asked on his Instagram while sharing a screenshot of the Rainbow Returns chat show.
“I’m so uncomfortable with this,” he wrote. “Prejudice against us [LGBT people] will accumulate again”.
He said he wo)MlT&N#McbP4a$GAg-4Dr7bE%K8Th+u43&qz8fnUEVBM($QlEvrried that all 100,000 viewers of the show would believe the "wrong information” and “fake news”.
The show'=*+r%V#WrP*_bzB6-aw$Z=an_G1vlzA$$(p%0_6^ej&4GHCA#cs presenters and guests made 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, they said they hoped he “escapes” homosexuality, accordinVEcyplH)77QDm6hxz=Z64013SDFQ1-emfPr@KDI=FVq50tzaojg to a translation by a local journalist.
South Korea’s out celebrities
South Korea is an incredibly conservative country when it comes to LGBTI ubQV6$7s3ozofZN5WAnaL0EpYwwjuxSqlhgs1zQA3EDf^^KQJ3rights. While homosexuality 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 groups have warned of backsliding LGBT rights. “Christian” anti-LGe%F-WZYYeOt-9UJoU*amdCtuDUpRVS^iXvW#Jh=hUwIv=Axw4cBT activists have increasingly disrupted pride events around the country.
When Hong came out in 2000 he was fired from presenting a children’s TV show. gcUYTnng*5YMIwfjEMnuGQfPTLB0KbYOIY8GiwFb(Z1Zg-IqEZSince then he has become a restauranteur and film actor.
An artist known as Holland is widely touted as the world’s first openly-gay K-pop idol. His debut single NeverlanddEt%o9tirKWUhjfV(P0OjjAwr-^4XGt6eUHMve5IsPmqMg7cle showed the story of a boy facing discrimination.
