South Korean actor Kim Seon-ho has been reinstated by some advertisers. Photo: Kim Seon-ho/Instagram
Kim Seon-ho was dropped from film projects, variety programmes and advertisements after his alleged behaviour to his ex-girlfriend was reported in various media.
The reports were based on the ex-girlfriend’s post on Oct 17 where she claimed that Kim had coerced her into having an abortion only to abandon her after, which eventually led to their breakup.
Later, friends of the couple shared text messages with Korean news portal Dispatch disputing the ex-girlfriend’s claims.
The Oct 26 article alleges that the Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha star was actually taken advantage of by the ex-girlfriend – who wasn’t being truthful in the relationship, and had even secretly kept images and video content of Kim on her personal devices.
On Nov 1, Dispatch shared more text messages between Kim and the ex-girlfriend, Choi Young-ah.
As translated by a few Korean news portals, the text messages revealed Kim to be a caring boyfriend, assuring Choi that he would be take responsibility with the pregnancy, and told her repeatedly not to worry.
Apparently, Dispatch published 22 pages of their conversations which Choi took screenshots of and sent to her acquaintances at various points in their relationship – from when she learned about her pregnancy (July 2020) to when they decided to spend time apart (April 2021) and the eventual break-up (May 2021).
Throughout the scandal, Kim had only come forth once with a statement, apologising to the ex-girlfriend for his actions.
News portals that have reached out to his agency only got this reply: “We have nothing to say (regarding this matter). Sorry.”
On Monday (Nov 1), a site confirmed that the 35-year-old would be starring in the upcoming film Sad Tropics, for which he was cast earlier.
Likewise, an e-commerce brand has reportedly posted a new ad video featuring the actor on its official YouTube channel; a face mask brand reposted ads featuring Kim on its official website and YouTube channel days after withdrawing them.
Another brand that had taken down images of Kim from its social media accounts, made an ad featuring him visible again, reported The Korea Herald.
Following the controversy, Kim was also dropped from two films he had been confirmed to star – Dog Days and 2 O’Clock Date, reported soompi.com. The Sad Tropics producers were still discussing their course of action at that time, stated the same article.
Meanwhile, Kim’s appearance in variety show 2 Days & 1 Night was edited out after the controversy and the actor stepped down from the show.
Presently, there is a petition going opposing to Kim's withdrawal from 2 Days & 1 Night that has gained more than 41,870 signatures as of Oct 31.
