While millions watch Beef on Netflix, a shocking video of star David Choe detailing his alleged assault on a Black woman has gone viral. The spotlight from the hit show featuring Choe and his paintings revealed a disturbing past, and a clip from Choe’s podcast DVDASA has sparked outrage and disgust for the actor who plays Steven Yeun’s criminal cousin, Isaac, and who painted all the title cards for Beef. According to Madame Noir , Choe previously boasted about being “a successful rapist” of a Black woman, but later denied it as “bad storytelling” for “shock value.”
Many Beef fans applauded the diverse, creative, and complex limited series until a clip from Choe’s 2014 show resurfaced on Twitter. The more information that comes out about 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.
“But the thrill of possibly going to jail, that’s what achieved the erection quest,” Choe said on the 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,” David 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,” David Choe said at the end of the excerpt.
The clip requires a major trigger warning and 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 after making the comments, David 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.”
According to Salon, David 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.”