Actor Park Seong-hoon faced controversy after posting the cover of adult content on his personal social media (SNS) and, despite apologizing, was unable to turn the cold public sentiment around, leading to his decision to withdraw from his next project, 'The Tyrant's Chef'.
A representative from Studio Dragon stated on the 12th, "After discussions between the production team and Park Seong-hoon's side, we have come to the decision that it would be difficult to proceed with this project ('The Tyrant's Chef')."
'The Tyrant's Chef' is a fantasy romance drama that depicts the story of a French restaurant chef who meets a gourmet tyrant through time travel, and it is one of the anticipated works of tvN this year. Directed by Jang Tae-yoo, known for 'My Love from the Star', it stars Lim Yoon-a and Kang Han-na.
Although Park Seong-hoon was initially listed as part of the cast, he suddenly became embroiled in controversy. On the 30th of last month, he posted and then deleted the cover of a Japanese adult film parodying the Netflix series 'Squid Game' on his SNS, leading to a surge of demands for his withdrawal from the project online.
Park Seong-hoon explained, "I have not seen such videos, and I believe they should not be made," stating that the problematic image was mistakenly uploaded while he was trying to convey it to the person in charge of 'Squid Game', but he could not change public opinion.
Studio Dragon relatedly stated, "Both the actor and the agency have expressed their apologies multiple times and have been in close discussions, but ultimately decided to continue on their respective paths."
