Some YouTubers cash in on hate speech

YouTube is flooded with hate speech. Since it became a popular platform for political "news" shows, YouTube has become a battleground between self-proclaimed right-wing and left-wing commentators on politics. gettyimagesbank

Self-proclaimed political commentators on YouTube cross line to attract more subscribers amid political news boom

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Comedian-turned-YouTuber Kang Seong-beom, 47, offered an apology for his discriminatory remarks about both Chinese nationals and the residents of the southeastern city of Daegu.

"In my latest video, I made some inappropriate comments about Chinese nationals and Daegu residents," he said in a statement uploaded Thursday about the May 19 video. "I deleted the controversial part. My apologies to Daegu residents, Chinese people in Korea, Mr. Lee Jun-seok and his parents and subscribers to my channel who could have felt offended by my careless comments. I know what I said cannot be justified under any circumstances. It was my fault and I am sorry for that."

His apology came a day after he made scathing comments about the two groups of people while talking about the main opposition People Power Party's upcoming primary to select a new leader. PPP lawmaker and former Supreme Council member, Lee Jun-seok, 36, currently leads surveys on who will be the most-likely leader.

"Some stocks were classified as the best to buy as Lee gains the upper hand in surveys. The prices of these stocks are on the rise. There's a rumor that his father is a Chinese national," Kang said. "Lee denied the rumor, saying that both his parents were from Daegu. I wonder if being a Daegu native is better than being a Chinese national. Isn't a Chinese national better than a Daegu citizen?"

His remarks were politically calculated.

Like many other countries, elections in Korea offer a chance to see how divided voters are. Generally, people in the eastern part of the country overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of the conservative main opposition party, whereas people in the west lean toward liberal candidates.

Daegu, a land-locked city in southeastern Korea, is the traditional stronghold of the conservative party, whereas the southwestern city of Gwangju and surrounding Jeolla region are the home turf of the ruling liberal camp.

Comedian-turned-YouTuber Kang Seong-beom / Korea Times file

Kang himself is a left-leaning YouTuber. He openly expresses his liberal political views in his channel. Thus, his comments that being a Chinese national is better than being a Daegu native were seen as an extended version of his anti-conservative political standpoint.

During the show, Kang's remarks drew the laughter of two other panelists. Giggling, one told him, "Your remarks are discriminatory. I think you'd better offer an apology right away." The other agreed and said in a playful tone, "You crossed the line."

Taking what they said as light-hearted jokes, Kang reacted, "Do I owe an apology for what I said? No way. I just said what came to mind." All three laughed.

Their playful conversation on a serious topic caused a stir. Regarding the video, which had over 100,000 views as of Friday afternoon, more than 5,000 people left comments ― many of them critical of Kang and his divisive demeanor.

One wrote, "He sucks." Another wrote, "Shame on you! You are doing a disservice to Jeollado and people from the region."

Kang's blunder is not an isolated case on YouTube.

In fact, YouTube is flooded with hate speech.

Since it became a popular platform for political "news" shows, YouTube has become a battleground between self-proclaimed right-wing and left-wing commentators on politics.

Like Kang, who was a comedian before launching his channel on YouTube, many of them have no credentials to comment on politics. But they run political commentary channels and talk about what's going on in domestic politics.

Some self-proclaimed commentators cash in on hate speech as YouTube has been emerging as a popular platform to earn income based on the number of subscribers and video views.

Among right-wingers are those who describe residents in the southwestern region as citizens of the Republic of Jeolla, separating them from other parts of the country. Meanwhile, some left-wing YouTubers belittle the residents of the southeastern region through negative stereotyping. The region is so different from the rest of the country that people may need to get a visa if they want to travel to the region, they say.

YouTubers profiting from their extreme views is similar to what self-serving politicians did in the past.

Some politicians exploited hate speech to consolidate their supporters during their campaigns. Portraying rival party politicians as villains persecuting them or discriminating against voters of the opposing party's stronghold region, they appealed to the hearts and minds of their supporters.

With their divisive views, they tried to encourage indecisive voters to turn out at polling stations to vote for them. Their resorting to hate speech resulted in the East-West divide in elections, leaving a splintered nation as a key policy challenge in the post-election aftermath.