David Choe rape feedback resurface: ‘Beef’ actor dealing with backlash

“Beef” actor David Choe is dealing with backlash after feedback he made in 2014 about sexually assaulting a therapeutic massage therapist resurfaced.

Reporter Aura Bogado posted a clip on Twitter from a 2014 episode of Choe’s now-defunct podcast “DVDASA.” Choe, whose art work has adorned the partitions of Fb’s workplaces and the White Home, crudely particulars his interplay with a therapeutic massage therapist he describes assaulting within the episode, which has since been scrubbed from the web.

USA TODAY has reached out to Choe’s consultant and Netflix for remark.

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Within the video posted by Bogado, Choe, who later claimed he made the story up for comedic functions, goes into element concerning the interplay.

“So I simply take her hand and I put it on my (genitals). And she or he simply holds it there,” he advised co-host and grownup movie actress Asa Akira, earlier than saying it was “horrible” and including she wasn’t “doing it.”

He continued to explain the encounter, saying the therapist “undoubtedly” wasn’t into it however that she was “not stopping it both.”

Choe mentioned he pushed the lady’s head down, forcing her to offer oral intercourse.

Akira may be heard saying “you raped,” with Choe responding, “nicely –” earlier than the clip cuts out.

In a subsequent tweet, Bogado shared screenshots that Choe allegedly “wrote to Twitter to get the video I posted of him speaking concerning the lady he says he raped taken down on copyright grounds.”

“He claims his *nonprofit* owns the copyright to the video of him speaking concerning the alleged rape,” she wrote.

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Choe, who performs Isaac in Netflix’s new drama “Beef,” has not but publicly addressed the renewed scrutiny. However social media customers have circulated the clip, questioning why Netflix solid Choe, given his historical past.

“This hit me laborious this week, as a result of i actually liked the present. the performing, the writing, the directing, all the things was superb, nevertheless i can not assist this present figuring out all of this, and had i identified about this earlier than i’d’ve by no means watched it,” @madwortsea wrote in a caption of a TikTok about Choe and the resurfaced clip.

“The ‘its for shock worth’ excuse is so wild to me, I really feel like im going loopy,” @moeschmobro captioned a video questioning why Netflix solid Choe.

“The person actually mentioned I did r^pey stuff however I’m not a R^PIST,” @ellenacuario captioned one other video about Choe.

Choe’s feedback made headlines practically a decade in the past in a number of retailers together with Gawker, Day by day Mail, BuzzFeed, The Guardian and Jezebel.

Choe mentioned within the since-removed podcast that he tried to persuade the therapeutic massage therapist to have intercourse with him, Gawker reported on the time.

He referred to as “the joys of probably going to jail” the issue that “achieved the erection quest.” Choe mentioned that the therapeutic massage therapist “mentioned sure along with her eyes,” and he added that he wished “to make it clear that I admit that that is rapey conduct, however I’m not a rapist,” in accordance with Gawker.

In response to the unique backlash, Choe launched a press release on the podcast’s web site. In his assertion, he defended himself by insinuating he made the story up.

“I by no means thought I might get up one late afternoon and listen to myself referred to as a rapist,” Choe mentioned, in accordance with Gawker. “It sucks. Particularly as a result of I’m not one. I’m not a rapist. I hate rapists, I feel rapists ought to be raped and murdered.”

He mentioned he seen the podcast as “an entire extension of my artwork,” and added, “We create tales and inform tales. It is not a information present. It is not a illustration of my actuality. It is not the place to return for dependable details about me or my life. It is my model of actuality, it is artwork that generally offends individuals. I am sorry if anybody believed that the tales have been truth. They weren’t!”

The web site has since been taken down.

A mural Choe created was vandalized and tagged with the phrase “rapist” in 2017, in accordance with NBC.

“I relayed a narrative merely for shock worth that made it appear as if I had sexually violated a girl,” he mentioned in an Instagram publish, per NBC. “Although I mentioned these phrases, I didn’t commit these actions. It didn’t occur.”

His mural was additionally scheduled to be the positioning of an anti-rape protest.

Choe has an admitted historical past of mendacity. In a 2021 profile printed by The New York Instances, Choe claimed he lied repeatedly about turning down tv gives, when he was truly rejected.

He advised the Instances that he had been in remedy. “I’m a recovering liar,” he mentioned. “As an alternative of being laborious on myself and judging myself, I simply right myself.”

Choe additionally hung out in jail in Japan in 2005 after punching a safety guard, in accordance with a 2010 article from the Los Angeles Instances.

For those who or somebody you realize has been sexually assaulted, assist is offered by means of the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE (4673).