“The Glory” In Real Life? Hwang Young Woong From The Audition Show “Fire Trot” Is Caught In Many Bullying And Assault Accusations

Controversy surrounds Hwang Young Woong, a contestant on MBN‘s reality audition program Fire Trot as victims speak out about his abusive and bullying past.

On March 1, a netizen claiming to be Hwang Young Woong’s elementary and middle school classmate posted on multiple online forums that she was dumbfounded at the trot singer’s success because of his abusive and bullying past.

The netizen claimed that Hwang Young Woong hit people who were weak or disabled, and he did it to impress the cool kids in school. She compared him to Son Myeong Oh from Netflix‘s show The Glory, a character who tries to impress his bullying group of friends by abusing and hurting victims.

The classmate also revealed that Hwang Young Woong smoked in the bathroom every day in middle school and said that he treated people worse than animals.

I thought he’d never become a human being but looks he’s doing well. He’s about to win ₩600 million KRW (about $460,000 USD).

This classmate wasn’t the only one to speak out about Hwang Young Woong—an ex-girlfriend also spoke out about his abuse as well. In an interview with a YouTuber, the ex-girlfriend claimed he assaulted her seven times while dating him, and a passerby even called the police on him because he was hitting his girlfriend in public. He also broke into her house in the middle of the night and assaulted her, and he was arrested.

The girlfriend provided a picture of the couple tattoo she got with Hwang Young Woong and a picture of them together as evidence that they dated.

The YouTuber stated that she also accused him of strangling her and raising her clothes up to punch her in the stomach. He also said the ex-girlfriend is still “shaking in fear” at the thought of him and has “no intentions of ever forgiving him.”

Another victim spoke out on February 27, claiming that she was his ex-girlfriend from about 11 years ago and that he threw a soju shot glass at her at a bar: “I don’t know why you thought you could throw a soju shot glass at me at a bar. If I had done something to deserve it, I would’ve understood and apologized, but then and even now, I don’t understand.” She then disclosed that Hwang Young Woong’s agency and the show’s producers tried to stop her from posting by bribing her.

Many other victims spoke out about Hwang Young Woong’s abuse and bullying. These accusations have not been confirmed; however, Hwang Young has apologized on his social media, stating, “I deeply apologize to those to whom I have caused inconvenience and trouble… What I have done wrong in the past does weigh heavy on me, but I do have the will to live a new life.”

He appeared on the first live broadcast of Fire Trot and won first place despite the controversies about him. During the live broadcast, he shared that he will donate the prize money to society if he wins next week, expressing his remorse and apology for the various controversies.

This is the full statement made by the netizen claiming to be his classmate.

I was dumbfounded when I heard from my mom. We went to elementary and middle school together. He was someone who hit weak people, if they were older than him, he would hit the weak ones, and there were a lot of disabled kids in school. He would only hit those guys.

When I was young, if you wanted to be popular, you had to study well, play well, and look handsome or pretty. I don’t know if he wanted to be popular… but he stood by the popular kids and hit all the weaker kids around him (the popular kids didn’t ask him to hit them, he took it upon himself to do so..) He hit them to look good in front of them…
It might make sense if you think of him as Son Myeong Oh from The Glory.

My brother’s friend was autistic, and he always made him buy cigarettes for him (the autistic friend is still close to my brother.) When we were in middle school, he used to always smoke in the bathroom.

It’s ridiculous that a guy like that would win!

Bullying is bad in any form, but he’s by far the worst I’ve ever seen.
He abused people worse than animals, and I thought he’d never become a human being, but looks he’s doing well. He’s about to win 600 million won…

The victims’ parents probably don’t know about this. Even the middle school teachers ignored weak kids, or kids whose parents were too busy to take care of them.

… The atmosphere was like that.

He wrote an explanation saying he became a human being after working as a car contractor for six years and asked people to give him a chance to reach for his dreams. You didn’t even deserve to work as a car contractor.

Please don’t succeed.

 

Many are wondering what will happen to Hwang Young Woong and his future and how he will do in the final round of Fire Trot airing on March 7.