The creators and stars of Netflix’s “Beef” have responded to the controversy Comment resurrected About rape by actor David Choi in a 2014 podcast.
In a statement issued to Vanity Fair on Friday, series creator Lee Sung Jin and leads Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who produced the show, acknowledged the incident as “upsetting and triggering.”
“The story created by David Choi nine years ago is undoubtedly painful and deeply disturbing. We do not condone this story in any way and we understand why it is so disturbing and triggering,” the statement said. “We are aware that David has apologized for making up this horrific story in the past, and we have seen him use it to get the mental health help he needed over the past decade to better himself and learn from his mistakes.”
CBS News has reached out to representatives for Choe, Wong and Yuen for comment. A Netflix representative declined to comment.
The Hollywood Reporter via Jesse Oliveira/GA/Getty Images
Netflix’s release of the hit show has been mired in controversy due to the rerun of a podcast interview in which Cho, who played a supporting role in the series as Isaac Cho, discussed sexually assaulting a masseuse, a story he later claimed was fictional.
In the clip, which began recirculating online after “Beef” was released on April 6, Cho described what he called “rape behavior” during a massage with a woman named Rose, including performing sexual acts in front of and with the masseuse.
In clips of the interview circulating on social media, Choe described Macius as “half black, half white” and noted being excited by the “thrill of possibly going to jail.”
“You’re basically telling us that you’re a rapist now, and the only way to get your dick really hard is rape,” Choi’s DVDASA podcast co-host, Asa Akira, says in the clip, to which Choi responds, “Yes,” calling himself “a successful rapist.” Before mentioning.
In response to the backlash following the clip’s initial release in 2014, Cho claimed the story was fabricated, and “not a representation of my reality,” BuzzFeed News reported at the time. The actor, who is also a graffiti artist, apologized for the story again in 2017 after he spray-painted the word “rapist” on a mural in New York City.
Choe has not publicly addressed the latest controversy.