One of Korea's most beloved YouTubers Kwak Joon-bin is facing uncertain career prospects following a controversy sparked by his words of comfort to Lee Na-eun -- a member of former K-pop group April who has failed to dispel suspicions she bullied a fellow bandmate.
As the winner of "World Dice Tour 2," Kwak is scheduled to appear in a spin-off series as he travels around Ulleung Island, with the premiere set for Oct. 19.
Cable channel ENA, which is scheduled to broadcast the spin-off series, said it could not give specific information about Kwak's show, as of Thursday.
"There have been no changes regarding the scheduled broadcasting of (spin-off series) as of now," said an official from the agency representing ENA.
"Details about the broadcast cannot be told since the (broadcast) schedule of the series is still quite distant," she added.
The comment comes as a wave of criticism targeting Kwak has inundated the trailer for the spin-off series, following the breakout of controversy surrounding Lee and Kwak. Viewers have responded with comments such as, “Please blur Kwak’s face from the show,” “Cancel the show like the Ministry of Education did,” and “The show’s reputation is ruined before it even begins.”
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education's promotional video for its anti-school bullying campaign, posted last week featuring Kwak, was hidden from public view on its official YouTube page, following the controversy.
Kwak became the face of nationwide controversy after posting a video logging his Italy trip on Monday, where he apologized to Lee for previously misunderstanding her due to now-debunked bullying claims. The 2020 accusations leveled against her were disproven, and the accuser apologized.
However, the controversy was exacerbated by a separate 2021 allegation that Lee bullied her groupmate Lee Hyun-joo while they were both in the K-pop group April. Although a 2022 police investigation identified discord among the members, it did not specifically label the incident as bullying.
Despite the results of the police investigation, public skepticism remained about whether bullying had occurred, especially after it was revealed that Lee Na-eun and her agency sued Lee Hyun-joo and her associates seven times over the bullying claims. Lee Hyun-joo was cleared in all seven cases.
Amid such public sentiment, fans said they found Kwak's act of comforting Lee particularly shocking, as Kwak was severely bullied during his school years.
"Kwak ... abandoned the identity he had built over time. It's true that the public’s underlying sympathy had somewhat contributed to the growth of Kwak's channel, and today, he directly denied that," read a top comment with 4,700 likes on the most recent video uploaded on Kwak's YouTube channel.
Other fans of Kwak said one of the biggest problems raised was that the YouTuber appeared to be forgiving Lee on behalf of the alleged victims.
"Who is he to say that what Lee did was a part of misunderstanding? What Lee did to her bandmate was never truly definitely proven," a former fan of Kwak told The Korea Herald on the condition of anonymity.
The former fan also added that the public uproar might have been intensified due to fatigue from a string of celebrity school bullying scandals in the media. Recently, actors Ahn Se-ha, Song Ha-yoon, and Jeon Jong-seo have been embroiled in similar controversies regarding bullying.
"We’ve seen one beloved celebrity after another become entangled in bullying scandals. It’s just exhausting at this point," he added.
Meanwhile, according to Namoo Actors, the agency representing Lee Na-eun, the 25-year-old actress will continue to star in the upcoming drama series "Eye Shopping."
"There is no change in (Lee's participation) in 'Eye Shopping,'" said an official from Namoo Actors.
