Beef's creator and stars finally speak on David Choe's rape story

Today, Beef creator Lee Sung Jin and stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun have finally addressed the resurfaced podcast episode wherein David Choe—who plays Isaac in the Netflix series—jokes that he is a “successful rapist” in a bizarre, troubling story he’s insisted over the years was a bad joke.

“The story David Choe fabricated nine years ago is undeniably hurtful and extremely disturbing. We do not condone this story in any way, and we understand why this has been so upsetting and triggering,” Lee, Wong, and Yeun shared in a joint statement made to Vanity Fair on Friday. “We’re aware David has apologized in the past for making up this horrific story, and we’ve seen him put in the work to get the mental health support he needed over the last decade to better himself and learn from his mistakes.”

The clip that initially found Choe under scrutiny came from a 2014 episode of Choe’s since-discontinued podcast DVDASA (Double Vag, Double Anal, Sensitive Artist). Titled “Erection Quest,” the episode features Choe telling co-host and adult film actor Asa Akira a story about forcing a massage parlor employee to perform oral sex on him despite repeated protestation, becoming aroused in the process of recalling it.

As Lee, Wong, and Yeun state, Choe has previously apologized for the comments, most recently in a 2017 Instagram post. Choe has maintained that the comments were “bad storytelling in the style of douche” and not actual admissions of violence.

Although Choe has behaved apologetically in the past, an initial response to the most recent resurfacing of the story didn’t exactly ring remorseful. Since the clip first gained traction on Twitter last week, Choe has yet to respond directly to the renewed criticism or issue another apology for his actions. But Choe did appear to issue copyright strikes against two writers, Aura Bogado and Meecham Whitson Meriweather, who shared the clip on Twitter, on the grounds that his nonprofit owns the footage.