Korean YouTuber Sues Haters Over A NSFW “Flight Attendant Look-Book,” Gets Busted For Pornography And Prostitution
Content Warning
Early November, when the South Korean fashion content creator Evelyn uploaded the “Flight Attendant Look-book” video to her YouTube channel a month ago, it blended in with the rest of her feed: She got in front of the camera, tried on a flight attendant uniform, and snapped herself in a few poses— as most fashion videos go.
Initially, the video received average views from Evelyn’s 344K+ subscribers. It went “viral,” however, after the video—and consequently, her channel—caught the attention of an actual Korean Air flight attendant, who then proceeded to leave a distraught review of the video on Blind (an open “professional networking” app and online forum that verifies its users by their companies of employment, much similar to the American LinkedIn or Glassdoor websites).
Pointing out the obvious similarities between the real Korean Air flight attendant uniform and the “copy” that Evelyn tried on, the anonymous flight attendant expressed extreme agitation at Evelyn for “sexualizing” the uniform and ultimately “objectifying” the flight attendants.
This uniform is not an official uniform from any airline and the design and fabric [are] also different.
— Evelyn, Instagram @evelynsexy19
When the review, too, went viral, Koreans agreed with the flight attendant and criticized the YouTuber for being reckless with her NSFW content.
The video by Evelyn and the comments under that video are breaking my heart. When I started working as a flight attendant for Korean Air, building my dream career, I really tried my best to be of service to each and every passenger I’ve met. I considered passenger safety my number one priority. And when in uniform, I tried to be on my best behavior so that I don’t bring any dishonor to the airline and my fellow attendants…
Some woman uploaded a video on YouTube, wearing an outfit that clearly resembles the Korean Air flight attendant uniform. In the video, she skimped around in lingerie, putting on the outfit. And on Instagram, she even posted a picture of herself spreading her legs open in the fake uniform. Underneath, she got comments like, ‘Thanks for fulfilling my flight attendant fetish’ or ‘Now I’ll imagine the attendants in yellow lingerie whenever I fly Korean Air…’
I dedicated a decade of my life working as a flight attendant. I’ve always worn my uniform with pride. So I really don’t deserve this kind of harassment. But I’m terrified now, to wear my uniform and to go to work. What if I run into the people who left those very comments? What will they be thinking inside their heads as they see me at work?
— Anonymous “Blind” Review
By December 15, after receiving heavy backlash for the video in question…
- “Both the supply and the demand are evil. Be courteous and stop crossing lines. What’s so hard to understand that all of this is ILLEGAL?”
- “This breaks my heart. I feel for all the flight attendants who take pride in their work. It sucks that they have to deal with this nonsense. I hope legal action is taken to protect the actual Korean Air employees from the harassment.”
- “Can we please have some manners and treat other humans with respect?”
- “Not the YouTuber defending the comments under her video when it’s clearly sexual harassment… LOL. Why would she care about the actual workforce she is roleplaying and disrespecting when she personally doesn’t feel offended, right? It must be nice to be that ignorant in life.”
- “I’ve heard some horror stories of what flight attendants have to put up with at work. So disgusted by this YouTuber trying to monetize off the occupation and seriously disrespecting the people in the field. For what, the views?”
- “Flight attendants face so much sexual harassment at work and are so vulnerable to being objectified like this. This YouTuber has no right to be making videos like this, when real flight attendants are battling sexualization every single day.”
…Evelyn pled that “screenshots from [her] video have been circulated online without consent,” which led to “malicious and sexual comments targeting [her].” Claiming herself as a victim of online harassment, the YouTuber reiterated via her channel that that she “meant no harm” and that she “will pursue legal action” against the malicious commenters.
While the threat to sue seemed to relieve some of the online hatred for Evelyn, she ended up facing lawsuits of her own when a fellow YouTuber, Lee Jun Hee by the channel name GooJeYeok, called her out on “prostitution” and reported her to the appropriate authorities for “breaking the law prohibiting commercial sex in South Korea.”
On December 19, as part of his channel “dedicated to unveiling social wrongs,” Lee uploaded an exposé video claiming that “while Evelyn acts like a fashion vlogger on the surface, she is actually a criminal selling pornography via Patreon” (an American membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service).
Quoting from an email exchange between Evelyn and a high school student which he obtained, Lee accused Evelyn of prostituting online—by selling explicit pictures and videos of herself to the paying subscribers.
When a high school student inquired about the type of content that will be provided to her newest VVIP-level sponsors, Evelyn wrote: ‘When I first started this, I promised that I would never go all nude. But I’ve come to consider my sponsors as my online boyfriends and I have a lot of love for them. So, in appreciation, I decided to create the VVIP status… Content provided for VVIPs will show my breasts and my privates, uncensored and for prolonged periods… Please note that I might touch but I do not insert anything.’
Again, this is word-per-word from an email response she sent to a high school kid.
— Lee Jun Hee, YouTube @GooJeYeok
He also revealed censored snippets from the “pornographic content” that Evelyn has been providing.
I can’t show you everything in my video because her content on the paid platform are pretty raw and pornographic. She is completely naked. There is a video in which she appears in the flight attendant uniform. She is role-playing and saying stuff like, ‘Please, sir’ and ‘We shouldn’t be doing this.’ She is touching herself, too. This is most definitely prostitution. She’s not selling look-books. She’s selling porn.
My biggest issue with her is that she has been shamelessly promoting the link to her pornographic content right there on her YouTube channel which is a platform for everyone, including the young. This is criminal activity, pornography production and circulation are illegal in Korea.
— Lee Jun Hee, YouTube @GooJeYeok
Following Lee’s exposé, on December 21, Korean Air confirmed that they, too, will be taking legal action against Evelyn. Referring to the look-book and the paid content as an “infringement of the personal rights of all Korean Air flight attendants,” the airline stated they will be filing not only a criminal lawsuit for the production and circulation of pornographic content, but also a civil one for defamation.
According to Korean Air, “the YouTuber and her video have greatly disrespected the airline’s flight attendants, in addition to negatively impacting the brand reputation of the airline itself.”
We will do everything in our power to battle the YouTuber for sexualizing and illegally profiting from the sexualization of our flight attendants.
— Korean Air
Meanwhile, Evelyn has not responded to the press on her impending investigations. The look-book video remains visible on her channel, though she has removed the Patreon link from the video description and halted service on her Patreon account.
