Hong Seok Cheon Under Scrutiny for “Staying Silent” During the COVID-19 Crisis Linked to Itaewon Clubs

Following a period of almost no new cases of COVID-19 in Korea, another wave began after a 29-year-old man visited 5 Itaewon clubs frequented by the LGBT community.

Shortly after the incident, the number of new COVID-19 cases went up, but there is a great worry for a wider spread due to the fact that many of the visitors of the club are refusing to respond to the health authorities.

As a result, LGBT celebrity, Hong Seok Cheon has come under scrutiny by netizens for staying silent when he was so vocal about the widespread of COVID-19 that resulted from a “cult church” known as Shincheonji.

Some of the comments left on Hong Seok Cheon’s social media include:

When Shincheonji was going on, you demanded that they cooperate, but why are you so quiet now? Write a factual post about it.

Please tell the gay community to get tested and cooperate with the investigation in an interview or a message. Please.

Please say something to the gay community like you did to Shincheonji.

You’re the only one who can make a big impact in this situation. If you keep your mouth shut right now, that’ll prove what kind of person you really are.

Ever since the Itaewon clubs became an issue, the image of the LGBT community is getting worse, and they’re disturbing the work of the quanrantine authorities by not responding to the calls to get tested. At a time like this, you should pose your influence by confidently telling them to call them and get tested.

– Netizens

Shortly after the criticism, Hong Seok Cheon deleted a number of such comments.

Meanwhile, other netizens are coming to Hong Seok Cheon’s defense for targeting the star inappropriately.

Why are they all freaking out on Hong Seok Cheon?

It’s wrong to criticize Hong Seok Cheon for this, but I don’t think it’d be bad for him to use his influence as a representative of the LGBT community.

Is this really necessary?

– Netizens