While millions binge Beef on Netflix, a shocking video of star David Choe detailing his alleged assault of a Black woman went viral.
Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty
The spotlight from the hit show featuring Choe and his paintings revealed a disturbing past. A clip from his podcast DVDASA sparked outrage and disgust about his involvement in the hit show. In addition to playing Steven Yeun’s criminal cousin, Isaac, Choe painted all the title cards for Beef. Madame Noir reports Choe bragged about being “a successful rapist” of a Black woman but later denied it as “bad storytelling” for “shock value.”
Many Beef fans cheered the diverse, creative, and complex limited series until a clip of Choe’s show from 2014 resurfaced on Twitter. The more details emerge from this ordeal, the worse it gets.
“According to his own telling, the woman David Choe assaulted is Black. He describes himself as a ‘successful rapist,” Aura Bogado wrote on Twitter with a clip from a now-deleted episode called “Erection Quest. The Tweet has more than 1.4 million views a day later.
David Choe’s rape confession is shocking to me. Like the culture we live in is horrific but to think you can just graphically detail how you raped someone and still wind up on starring in this TV show??? Jail for everyone involved
— nylah, a ludicrously capacious bag (@yumcoconutmilk) April 13, 2023
“But the thrill of possibly going to jail, that’s what achieved the erection quest,” Choe said on his podcast.
Even his co-host Asa Akira looked shocked, saying, “Ew, you’re basically telling us that you’re a rapist now. And the only way to get your d*ck really hard– is rape.”
“Yeah,” Choe said, doubling down as two other men laughed. They went on to ask what she looked like. He fed into their sadistic fantasy by describing her body, hair and race.
“Who cares what she looks like? Dave is telling us he’s a rapist,” Akira said.
“A successful rapist,” Choe said at the end of the excerpt.
David Choe, as in the guy who detailed the way he raped a woman? And then came back to say it was just a misunderstood version of his reality? Ok. https://t.co/qL2yhiU3bG
— Aura Bogado (@aurabogado) April 13, 2023
The clip requires a major trigger warning. It follows a more graphic account of what Choe described as “rapey” behavior. “She’s definitely not into it,” he said during an earlier part of the story. A month later, Choe claimed on his old website that it was a story he made up for his so-called 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.” 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. Just like many of my paintings are often misinterpreted, the same goes with my show. The main objective of all of my podcasts is to challenge and provoke my friends and the co-stars on the show.”
Read Choe’s apology for “a lifetime of doing wrong” after the flip.
David Choe Apologizes For Assault Story, Claiming He Has ” ZERO History Of Sexual Assault”
According to Salon, Choe finally took accountability publicly after activists defaced and protested at one of his murals in 2017. He apologized for a “lifetime of doing wrong,” including the 2014 story.
“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. I have ZERO history of sexual assault. 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. I was a sick person at the height of my mental illness, and have spent the last 3 years in mental health facilities healing myself and dedicating my life to helping and healing others through love and action. I do not believe in the things I have said although I take full ownership of saying them,” Choe wrote on Instagram.
“Additionally, I do not condemn anyone or have any ill will towards those who spread hate and speak out negatively against me, no one will ever hate me more than I hated myself back then. Today I’ve learned to love and forgive others just as much as myself.”
I’m not gonna RT because nobody needs something that triggering at 8 AM but based on the David Choe story I’m just gonna go ahead and say that we should preemptively cancel every man who has ever hosted a chat podcast
— Yell in a War (@jelenawoehr) April 13, 2023
For many, including those who enjoyed or planned to watch Beef, making up that kind of story is still too awful to overlook. There are calls to cancel the show, too, for even giving him the platform.
In a 2021 interview, he said he struggled with mental health, addiction, and trauma from sexual abuse. Choe explained the comments as an extension of his self-destructive “self-loathing.” His continued success after admitting such vile acts speaks to a society supporting abusers more than victims.
I love how Netflix social pr is just powering through like this David Choe convo isn’t happening pic.twitter.com/IFX3CRqemg
— Rebecca Theodore-Vachon 🇭🇹 🇩🇴 🇺🇸 (@FilmFatale_NYC) April 14, 2023
Regardless of how much growth or work Choe has done, this news is more than a slap in the face to viewers.
The only way #BEEFNetflix can attempt to recover from this David Choe monstrosity is to pull a Shonda Rhimes and open the season at his character’s funeral. A quick mention that he died in prison could work too. pic.twitter.com/0QKEa0yfLa
— GirlTyler (@sheistyler) April 14, 2023
Despite Choe’s past apologies, this scandal sparked heated conversations about the rape culture that reduces sexual assaults to “shock value” in the first place.
Do you believe Choe’s explanation about making up the story on his 2014 podcast? Does the shocking news complicate your feelings about Beef?
