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| Actor Yoo Yeon-seok / Courtesy of Kidari Studio |
Actor Yoo Yeon-seok's agency, King Kong by Starship, said it will take strong legal action against people spreading accusations online that the actor humiliated a security guard at his apartment complex.
"We've confirmed with the actor that the following rumor is completely untrue. We plan to file a criminal charge of defamation for the false spread of information by the person responsible for the online post," it said in a press release, Wednesday. "We've already hired a legal counsel and are taking procedures for strong legal action. We ask you to stop the spreading of this baseless rumor."
The rumor surfaced Tuesday when an online user claimed that the person's father was insulted by Yoo while working as a security guard at the apartment complex about six or seven years ago.
The user wrote that the father saw the actor and his friends getting ready to ride a bicycle one day and tried to talk to them. When he asked Yoo if one of the bicycles was his, Yoo got upset and said, "Would I ride that crappy bicycle? You think that's mine?" The actor then pointed his finger at the security guard and sneered, giving him a look of contempt, before leaving with his friends.
"My father was working with pride because he has met a lot of nice neighbors and felt he could be of help to them. But he told me that he soon quit his job after the humiliation and insults he experienced at the time," the user said.
The agency quickly denied that the incident happened and shared a screenshot of a post by an online user claiming to be the accuser. The user was jealous of the actor and never expected it to get such a huge reaction, according to the post.
"I wrote the post out of jealousy because (Yoo) has been getting popular and appearing in more reality shows. I didn't expect this to get so big," the online user said, apologizing for the accusation. "I apologize to Yoo. Although I've never met him in person, I think he is a generous and nice actor."
However, the original user revealed that the following post is not true. In the initial accusation post, the user added that the apology was not from him.
"It said the user wrote it out of jealousy and apologized. I don't know if it's one of Yoo's fans or not but that apology wasn't from me," the user said. "I just wrote what I heard from my father. I do admit that I got emotional when I wrote it. Yoo probably isn't the sole reason he quit his job … I was just venting out my frustration but I didn't know it would get this big when I name a celebrity."
The actor's agency did not make any further comment after the user's additional remarks.
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