Super Junior’s Heechul Is Criticized After His Comments About ASTRO’s Cha Eunwoo While Drunk On A Live Broadcast

When it comes to idols who aren’t afraid to speak their minds, Super Junior member Heechul has been in the industry long enough to feel confident about being himself and voicing his opinions. Unfortunately, this has gotten the idol into trouble in the past.

Heechul has come under fire after a recent drunken live broadcast, where he mentioned ASTRO‘s Cha Eunwoo (also known as Cha Eun Woo.)

On February 10 (KST), the Super Junior idol recently appeared on a live broadcast for Afreeca TV with BJ Choi. During the broadcast, the idol got seemingly very drunk and gained a lot of negative attention for his comments on topics.

During the broadcast, while talking about his former bandmate Kangin and him being a fighter, ASTRO’s Cha Eunwoo was suddenly mentioned.

Heechul explained how close he is to the singer, adding, “I’m so close with Eunwoo. He’s so handsome, but he’s such a manly man (literally translated as alpha male).”

Of course, the term “alpha male” can be interpreted negatively as some of the traits can be seen as toxic. Although Heechul seemingly meant to praise Eunwoo, his following statements gained attention as he related it to the rising topic of “school bullying.”

If you talk to him about school bullying, he would have cussed more than me.

— Heechul

In particular, netizens believed he seemed to paint Eunwoo as someone violent and aggressive when Heechul started explaining how he though Eunwoo would act upon hearing about a bully.

I understand why he is popular, of course. He has an image on tv, but if he heard about a school bully, he would be like, ‘Hyungnim, bring that f**ker here,’ and would have slapped him. He’s such a manly man (Alpha male) who really likes to exercise…

— Heechul

Although some netizens thought Heechul was praising Eunwoo, most didn’t like the idea of Heechul suddenly bringing the young idol into the conversation on such a serious topic. In particular, they didn’t like that he compared Eunwoo to a former member who had been removed from the group.

• “Watch your mouth…”
• “Cha Eunwoo was his class president in school. Just because he is the type to get mad over school bullying doesn’t mean you should cuss and say he’s going to slap somebody and associate him with someone who was caught drunk driving and assaulting someone [Kangin]/ I don’t even think they are that close. He’s making so much trouble for Eunwoo, seriously.”
• “Did you compare Eunwoo to Kangin? Are you crazy?”
• “Protect Eunwoo.”

For many, Eunwoo is a popular star gaining attention worldwide with both his idol and actor activities. Netizens worry that Heechul’s comments could be taken the wrong way and negatively impact Eunwoo.