Actor Park Sung-hoon’s involvement in a controversy over uploading a Japanese AV cover is still ongoing. According to an exclusive report by Star News on the 2nd, the script reading for the new tvN drama “The Tyrant’s Chef” has been canceled. The production team initially planned to gather the cast for a script reading on the 2nd, but eventually decided to cancel it. Test filming was also canceled.
“The Tyrant’s Chef” is a drama about a chef who, at the peak of his career, time-slips to the past and meets a king known as the worst tyrant but also the greatest gourmet. Directed by Jang Tae-yu, known for “Deep Rooted Tree,” “My Love from the Star,” and “Flowers Bloom at Night,” the drama has garnered attention with Park Sung-hoon and Girls’ Generation’s Yoona cast as the leads.
However, the production of “The Tyrant’s Chef” faced a major setback due to Park Sung-hoon. On December 30th, Park uploaded a group poster of Japanese AV actors in the costumes of Netflix’s original series “Squid Game 2” on his personal social media. The photo explicitly depicted the actors’ breasts, genitalia, and sexual poses. Park played the character Cho Hyun-joo, a transgender participant in the game to secure funds for gender reassignment surgery, in “Squid Game 2,” which was released on December 26th.
The post was deleted approximately one minute after upload. However, given that Park has nearly 2 million followers, the Japanese adult video picture had already been shared with countless fans despite its swift removal.
The clumsy handling by Park’s agency BH Entertainment (hereinafter BH) further fueled fans’ anger. Immediately after the incident, BH told Star News, “Park Sung-hoon receives so many direct messages (DMs) that while checking them, he accidentally shared one. He admitted it was a mistake and apologized.” However, a day later, BH admitted, “Regarding Park Sung-hoon’s controversy, we initially said it was uploaded due to a malfunction while checking DMs, but we want to explain further. Park received the Japanese AV cover through DM and, realizing the potential issue, attempted to send it to a company representative. In doing so, he downloaded the image. He should have deleted it after sending, but mistakenly uploaded it,” acknowledging the initial explanation was false and apologized again.