London-Based Korean YouTuber Sparks Debate About Racial Profiling
London-based Korean YouTuber & Digital Content Creator Sungdo You (known as londonoppa) is going viral after a recent video.
Sungdo shared a video of himself via his social media accounts. It featured him eating a burger when he got interrupted by a police officer who unexpectedly interrogated him.
First, the police officer asked him if he was local. He even asked Sungdo about the camera, wondering if it was a “dashcam” and what he used it for. The questioning continued regarding Sungdo’s background, inquiring where he was from, if he was there legally, travel route, his Visa and ID, etc. In the end, the police officer even asked him for his YouTube channel’s name.
Sungdo shared the incident, asking his followers if what happened to him was racial profiling. The video went viral on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube with 4.2M, 2.1M, and 3M views, respectively, at the time of writing.
Korean netizens had mixed reactions. Some agreed it was, without a doubt, racial profiling, suggesting he report it to the media, as he even has evidence. Others disagreed, claiming that the police officer was only doing his job as England has increasing issues with illegal immigrants and that he was even “polite.” Some Koreans even said they wished their own country would do the same practice.
- He did his job as a police officer.
There are a lot of illegal immigrants in Europe, so I think they’re asking after due process.
Where is the racism?
It’s not like they are openly asking if he is Chinese. - Racism. This is serious social profiling. Of course, there is no apology … but strongly complain to local councilors, police, etc. There is also a video of evidence, so report it to the BBC and other media. Otherwise, it will continue to be like this.
- Is this really discrimination? It’s very gentle. I think it’s good for the police to suddenly check if there is a social problem as an illegal resident. I hope our country does the same…
- That’s racism.
- This is totally racial profiling. You must have been shocked and upset 🥲
- The point here is that he needs to see if he’s an illegal alien or not by his appearance alone, his race, or his clothing. Wouldn’t it be strange to just eat hamburgers and shoot a YouTube video? Well, if you have any convincing suspicions about him, whether he’s walking down the street begging, showing signs of evasion by the police, or anything like that. Appearance alone is plain discrimination.
Yet, most English comments found the incident strange. Those who were from the United Kingdom, including Asians, said it was unusual and not necessary. Many British netizens agreed that the police officer racially profiled Sungdo.
What do you think?
