Yoo Yeon Seok Comes Under Scrutiny After Being Alleged To Have Belittled Security Guard — Netizens Show Mixed Reactions

Actor Yoo Yeon Seok has been accused of belittling a security guard.

On March 21, a post went viral on an online community in which the author alleges that actor Yoo Yeon Seok spoke down to their father, who was a security guard at the actor’s apartment.

I can no longer watch Yoo Yeon Seok pretend to be a good person and an actor who cares for others. With a heavy heart, I am writing this here because I have nowhere else to vent.

— Author of post

According to the post’s author, 6-7 years ago, their father had asked the actor if a bicycle was his. The author then alleges that the actor, while pointing, responded, “Do you think I would ride a dirty old bicycle like this? Are you saying that’s mine?”

One day Yoo Yeon Seok and his friends were stretching before riding their bicycles. Seeing this, my father tried to strike up a conversation and pointed at the nearest bicycle and asked, while smiling, if the bike was his.

After hearing my father, Yoo Yeon Seok, scrunched up his face and asked his friends, “Hey, what is he saying?” Yoo Yeon Seok then started pointing at the bicycle and asked my father, “Do you think I would ride a dirty old bicycle like this? Are you saying this is mine?” The actor then started laughing at my father.

— Author of post

The post’s author then alleges that the actor looked the security guard up and down and laughed at him. According to the post, the author’s father was so shocked by this incident that he quit his job.

Yoo Yeon Seok then locked eyes with my father and waved his fingers twice at him, then told his friends to ignore him, and they all rode past my father. While they did so, each of them took turns looking my father up and down and laughing at him while they rode by.

My father took pride in his work and did whatever he could to help the kind residents, but he revealed that due to the shame and embarrassment he felt that day, he quit soon after.

— Author of post

The author of the post goes on to criticize the actor and alleges that his father is now suffering from a debilitating disease and is no longer able to work.

Netizens were divided after reading the post. While some expressed alarm and disappointment, others cautioned against criticizing the actor after reading the post.

• “I think we need to stay neutral. This isn’t something that happened to the author, and he’s writing this 1-2 years after hearing about this, but he writes what Yoon Yeon Seok said in too much detail for that. Seeing how rather than writing that Yoo Yeon Seok had said something ‘To this effect’ and instead writes that this is exactly what Yoo Yeon Seok said, I think the author’s personal emotions are also in this post.”
• “Wow? If this is true, this is shocking AF.”
• “If this is true, I would be so disappointed. Before he is a celebrity, don’t you think he has some issues?”
• “I’m not sure if this is true or not, but after reading this, he doesn’t seem like a good person… Hwaiting!”
• “Don’t you have anything to corroborate the fact he worked there? Isn’t this simply something your father told you about the time he felt close to the actor and had a bad experience? And please don’t say that he felt close to him. It really pisses me off when apartment security guards feel close to me, so they talk to me without honorifics and go on a rant while I’m recycling.”
• “Is this real? There are so many made-up stories… The part where you write that his friends said, ‘You mean the almighty Yoo Yeon Seok?’ seems so fake ㅠㅠ, LOL.”
• “The post leans heavily on emotions, and you haven’t provided any proof that your father worked there, and because you only wrote this from the point of view of your father, I need to stay neutral. I am just a normal person, and I don’t like small talk, and I can only imagine how worse your father must have been while talking to a celebrity. I don’t think (the actor) would have liked to talk about personal things.”

Starship Entertainment has since responded to the allegations by denying it ever happened and has vowed to take legal action.