The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, adroitly, sadly, and sadistically destructive.
Ex-girlfriend of top Korean star Kim Seon Ho (Start-Up) dropped a detonator on social media at exactly the same time the actor’s running series, Hometown Cha-cha-cha, was peaking, story-wise and ratings-wise.
Her expose was a real shocker, a tick-ticking bomber on the eve of the 16-episode show’s finale. She posted that Kim Seon Ho ‘’forced’’ her to commit abortion, which is legal in Korea, when they were still together. The actor had apologized for the indiscretion and wrong judgment
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The revelation’s repercussions reached far and wide. Kim Seon Ho was immediately dropped from all of his forthcoming TV and movie projects.
Fans quit his fan pages in a huff. Advertisers deleted his pictures and video endorsements on their social media engagements.
The 35-year old actor, known for his good-boy roles and boyish, charming personality, lost the lead role in the film, '2 O'Clock Date,' a romantic comedy about a man and his encounter with his downstairs neighbor, a woman who keeps a horrible secret.
'2 O'clock Date,' scheduled to film in March 2022, was supposed to pair the actor with YoonA.
Seon Ho was also removed from the cast of another film, “Dog Days,” and three other movies.
In Dog Days, he was supposed to play a Filipino-Korean man dreaming to become a boxer.
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The series of volcanic-like tremors in the career of Kim Seon Ho shows how much different we are culturally from Koreans. Yet, truth be told, audiences must learn to separate actors’ private and public lives, although a thin line stands between the two.
In the local setting, scandals between ex-lovers or family members are fodder for headlines that usually don’t impact much on the careers of actors.
On the other hand, such a flood of negative publicity is often used and turned around to further enhance the newsworthiness and bankability of an actor or personality. They need not necessarily spell doomsday or downfall.
There are those who do the washing of their own dirty linen in public for the sake of what seems like a thwarted sense of self-promotion.
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In this highly digital age, secrets come out of the closet for all the world to hear in the form of personal vlogs. Social media has allowed actors their own platform to promote themselves, either positively or negatively.
Actors these days have become their own promoters and program hosts in a manner of speaking. Through a simple tweet or post, they could preempt any scoop from showbiz talk shows.
The downside or you may also call it the upside, is that some actors use the internet in make-or-break moves.
They put themselves on exhibit, either positively or negatively. They don’t quite agree with singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette who once said, ‘I see my body as an instrument rather than an ornament.’
In South Korea, the mantra, ‘’Bad publicity is still publicity doesn’t hold water.
Unfortunately, it isn’t so for the family’s favorite star, Kim Seon Ho. The poor guy can lie low, for now, let the ebb and web of issues subside.
In no time, his career, like those of other actors who were controversial themselves, will surely be revived.