Hong Suk Chun (L) and Jo Kwon. | Photo: Instagram/@tonyhong1004
One of K-Pop’s most famous stars has hit out at social media trolls who criticized him for taking a selfie with a gay celebrity.
Jo Kwon who was the former leader of South Korean pop group, 2AM, posed for a selfie with chef Hong Suk Chun. Hong then posted the photo to Instagram.
Hong is a well-known South Korean chef and considered to be one of the country’s most famous gay celebrities.
Kwon posted a selfie with Hong at one of the chef’s many restaurants.
‘So delicious. And so amazing. He’s just the best,’ Kwon said about Hong.
But then trolls flooded Kwon’s social media post with homophobic comments and Kwon was having none of it.
‘Did I harm your life in any way? Celebrities are humans too. I hope you become a person with a broader perspective of the world,’ he responded on Instagram.
‘There are people who look this way, that way, with this kind of personality and that personality, this kind of preference and that kind of preference. They all deserve to be loved. I hope you learn to respect others first.’
‘Don’t change my feed full of rainbows to dark clouds’
But Kwon was very riled up by the homophobic response to his photo and returned to social media a few days later because he had more to say.
‘Stop discriminating. Someone can also hate and discriminate against you. We can’t satisfy everyone in the world but there is a basic line,’ he wrote.
‘Don’t change my feed full of rainbows to dark clouds.’
Kwon said he didn’t like to react to social media trolls but the hateful comments were too much to ignore. He complained that people even went to the effort to send him private messages to express their homophobia.
‘I usually just ignore it and let it slide. They say social media is a waste. I also agree. But in order to communicate, I use my public account without ‘harming’ others,’ Kwon wrote.
‘Everyone has the right to be loved. If these people never harmed you in any way then please give love and live a beautiful life.’
