A deeply concerning podcast episode has resurfaced following the success of Lee Sung Jin’s dark comedy, Beef. The Netflix miniseries stars David Choe, who previously hosted a podcast series in which he detailed a worrying experience with a massage therapist. Following backlash, the actor claimed that the story was untrue.
On Thursday, April 13th, investigative journalist Aura Bogado shared a segment from a 2014 episode of Choe’s now-defunct podcast, DVDASA. The full episode, ‘Erection Quest’, is still available and can be heard here.
The segment in question heard Choe tell a story of how he once touched a female massage therapist without consent before pressuring her to perform oral sex on him. While he recounts the concerning altercation, Choe admits that the memory alone arouses him. Choe later protested that it had been a fictional account to add intensity to the show.
“The thrill of possibly going to jail, you know, that’s what achieved the erection quest,” Choe commented after telling the story. “Ew, you’re basically telling us that you’re a rapist now,” his co-host, adult film star Asa Akira retorted.
After the podcast episode aired in March 2014, Choe apologised, explaining that the story was entirely fictional and intended for entertainment. “If I am guilty of anything, it’s bad storytelling in the style of douche,” he wrote in a post on his now-deleted website.
“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.”
He added that it had been a “dark, tasteless, completely irreverent show.” Continuing: “We create stories and tell tales. It’s not a news show. It’s not a representation of my reality. It’s not the place to come for reliable information about me or my life. It’s my version of reality, it’s art that sometimes offends people. I’m sorry if anyone believed that the stories were fact. They were not!”
