Voting is easy, but apologizing is hard. This is the story of actor Kim Sung-chul.

Kim Sung-chul is currently being criticized for participating in a vote in an Instagram account post (video) that edited a girl group stage video. The reason is because of the voting video posted by the account. The video in question intentionally uses slow motion (slow motion) to reveal parts of the girl group‘s body and embarrassing dance moves, causing the female entertainer to feel sexually ashamed. What’s more, it even conducts a vote to compare these.

Once it became known that Kim Sung-chul had voted for the video in question, criticism poured in online. His agency was the one that belatedly stepped in to handle the situation.

On the 3rd, his agency Story J Company told Donga.com, “We fully acknowledge and are reflecting on the issues (the problematic video and voting).” However, I did not know that the mentioned account was a controversial channel, and I was aware of the situation later and edited the content, but it had already spread quickly,” he said. “I have already apologized to the artists mentioned due to my careless actions. I am sorry and apologetic for the issues that are piling up even at this moment. I will be more careful with my SNS activities in the future to avoid the same thing from happening again,” he said, apologizing on behalf of Kim Sung-chul.


Agency companies clearly have responsibility when it comes to managing celebrities. However, it is questionable whether they should apologize on behalf of their agencies for SNS accounts that they do not directly manage. They work so hard and obsessively on SNS activities, but when it comes time to apologize, they do not even say a single line. They just have their agencies express their positions instead. You can see this just by looking at some celebrities who have already made statements at award ceremonies.

People say, “Celebrities don‘t have private lives,” but they are the ones who reveal everything that can be consumed as content, from their “story stories” to their homes and families. Their agencies will take care of it, but if they don’t have the courage to at least write an apology on their SNS accounts, which are their communication channels with their fans, wouldn‘t closing their accounts be the answer? You never know when they might cause another heartbreaking incident.

Hong Se-young, Donga.com reporter, projecthong@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.