A resurfaced podcast clip of actor David Choe has been met with controversy after he is heard admitting that he raped and sexually assaulted a Black woman.
In an episode of the now-defunct podcast called DVDASA, which aired in 2014, the Beef star said that he performed sexual acts in front of a massage therapist and forced her to do the same even after she said no. It was one of other instances he described as “rapey behavior.”
“So 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,” he is heard saying on the podcast.
Shortly after the podcast was aired, Choe attempted to clear his name in a statement. “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,” he said in 2014. “We create stories and tell tales … 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!”
Nine years later, social media users are calling out his remarks, stating that he has managed to become a “successful rapist.”
“Choe’s story reflects the harsh reality that men and women alike continue to believe and perpetuate the dangerous myth that coerced sexual activity is not considered assault or rape,” reads a joint statement from Advancing Justice — LA, Center for the Pacific Asian Family and South Asian Helpline and Referral Agency.
The statement continued: “By legal definition, you are committing an act of sexual assault when you do not receive consent,” the organizations wrote in a statement. “Based on Choe’s telling, the masseuse’s repeated protests, in addition to his physical coercion, indicate that she was not consenting to the acts he requested.”
The resurfaced clip comes just one week after the release of the Netflix comedy drama Beef in which he appears as a cast member. While he has not come out publicly to address his remarks this time around, he did address the controversy in a 2017 Instagram post, stating that what he said “did not happen.”
“In a 2014 episode of [DVDASA], I relayed a story simply for shock value that made it seem as if I had sexually violated a woman. Though I said those words, I did not commit those actions. It did not happen,” Choe said. “I am deeply sorry for any hurt I’ve brought to anyone through my past words. Non-consensual sex is rape and it is never funny or appropriate to joke about.”
