David Choe, breakout star in Netflix's series Beef, has come under fire for comments he made in 2014 about apparently sexually assaulting a massage therapist.
A clip from Choe's discontinued podcast, DVDASA, recently resurfaced on Twitter, in which the actor told co-host and adult film star Asa Akira about an incident that has since widely been criticized as rape and sexual assault.
In the clip, Choe said that his "erection quest" led him to his favorite massage studio. During a session, he said he became aroused, and pressured the masseuse into touching him.
"I go back to the chill method of: You never ask first, you just do it, get in trouble and then pay the price later," Choe said, continuing, "So I just take her hand and I put it on my [genitals]. And she just holds it there."
\u201c\ud83e\uddf5David Choe, actor on the @Netflix show 'Beef,' had previously spoken on a podcast about being "a successful rapist" - a direct quote. Choe successfully DCMA'd the original video post by @AuraBogado, but it is, of course, newsworthy and fair use to post.\u201d— Jenn Dize \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83d\udcbb Courage News (@Jenn Dize \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83d\udcbb Courage News) 1681750183
He added that the therapist "definitely" wasn't into it, but that she was "not stopping it either." Choe continued to say that he then pushed the woman's head down, forcing her to perform oral sex.
"The thrill of possibly going to jail is what achieved the erection quest," Choe said, adding, "she said yes with her eyes."
Akira called the story "horrible," telling Choe "you raped," while the male guests instead asked him to describe the masseuse physically.
Choe added: "I just want to make it clear that I admit that that's rapey behavior, but I am not a rapist."
After receiving backlash upon the episode's posting in 2014, Choe posted a statement to DVDASA's now inactive website claiming the entire story was fictional, and was an "extension of my art."
"I never thought I'd wake up one late afternoon and hear myself called a rapist. It sucks. Especially because I am not one. I am not a rapist. I hate rapists," Choe wrote. "I am an artist and a storyteller and I view my show DVDASA as a complete extension of my art. If I am guilty of anything, it's bad storytelling in the style of douche."
He continued: "Just like many of my paintings are often misinterpreted, the same goes with my show. ... It's my version of reality, it's art that sometimes offends people. I'm sorry if anyone believed that the stories were fact. They were not."
Ever since his appearance in Beef, clips of Choe's "art" have resurfaced on Twitter. Writer Aura Bogado first posted the video, but later shared that it was removed due to a copyright violation.
\u201cDavid Choe wrote to Twitter to get the video I posted of him talking about the woman he says he raped taken down on copyright grounds. \n\nHe claims his *nonprofit* owns the copyright to the video of him talking about the alleged rape.\u201d— Aura Bogado (@Aura Bogado) 1681688085
Choe has not since addressed the video, and has not yet commented on its recent circulation.
