Comedian alleges sunbae beat him in car with seatbelt fastened: 'Mr. Boss is bad'

Jeong Cheol-gyu, the comedian known for the catchphrase "Mr. Boss is bad," has come forward with allegations that a senior comedian assaulted him years ago.

Jeong appeared Sunday in a video titled "Comedian hazing!! Why did I get hit in a car with a seatbelt on?? Sunbae is bad — special-recruit Blanka!" on the YouTube channel Namu Miki Heungsinso.

Jeong debuted in 2004 as a special-recruit comedian at KBS and gained wide popularity through his character "Blanka," a foreign laborer, on the KBS program "Poksso Club."

When host Miki Gwangsu asked whether he had ever been dragged off and beaten by open-recruit sunbae comedians despite being a special recruit himself, Jeong opened up about the incident.

Jeong said he had signed an advertising contract without an upfront fee, which drew criticism from senior comedians who said the minimum signing bonus should be 30 million won ($20,500). He said he responded that he wanted to work with the company because they had reached out to him first, and that money was not the point. A sunbae then called him out and the assault began, he said.

"The sunbae said, 'Get in the car,' told me to sit in the passenger seat and buckled my seatbelt," Jeong said. "I thought we were going somewhere. He buckled it, turned off the engine, and then started slapping my face. Have you ever been slapped straight in the face? When he hit me like that, my nose and eyes took it at the same time — tears came out automatically and my nose went red. I kept getting hit, 'smack, smack,' and one side hurt so much I turned away. But then our eyes met. 'What are you glaring at?' he said, cursing at me, and hit me again with his left hand."

Asked why he was being hit, Jeong said: "'Who told you someone would give you 30 million won?' The moment I said 'That's not what I meant,' the hitting started. I didn't cry then. I just thought there was no point saying anything more, so I said 'I'm sorry' and took the punches."

On the identity of the sunbae who assaulted him, Jeong said: "It's not anyone like Messi or Ronaldo. Think more along the lines of Eden Hazard or Andrés Iniesta," comparing the person to soccer players to give a sense of their stature.