Gaon Chart K-POP Awards (Photo : Getty Images)
Some male Korean celebrities have recently been accused of sexual assault, such as Park Yoochun and Jung Joon Young who fled to France in mid-October to escape a lawsuit filed by the complainant, his ex-girlfriend.
On Thursday, the hashtag #snl_sexual harassment became the number 1 trending topic in South Korea, but the victims were men and the perpetrators were females. According to the hallyu-issues blog in Tumblr, posted on Thursday by mynbyul, the backstage video of Infinite and B1A4, two popular Korean boy bands, became viral.
Genital-Grabbing Incident
The video showed female comedians from “Saturday Night Live Korea” grabbing the genitals of the band members, cheering wildly and showing how happy the women were. But the men indicated they were uncomfortable with the sexual harassment by the female comedians that they tried to cover their crotches with their hands.
The video, posted on YouTube, has so far more than 1.2 million views a month after it was posted. According to AllKpop, the incident happened in late November. The band members demanded an apology, but the female comedians even denied the incident took place until a video was posted on social media.
Other Victims
The members of Infinite and B1A4 were not the first victims of sexual harassment by the female comedians of “SNL Korea.” AllKpop reported that all male guests of the show were treated that way by the hosts who considered it as a “ceremony. However, the male guests kept mum over the incident because of fear TVN, the broadcast station where “SNL Korea” airs, could get even and ban the bands from promoting their shows and albums.
When news of the incident spread, a lot of Korean netizens criticized the female comedians of “SNL Korea.” Myungbul wrote on the blog “This is sexual harassment and should under NO CIRCUMSTANCES taken lightly. I just hope that these staff members get fired and B1A4 and Infinite get a more than proper apology from SNL or even better TVN.”
