'I have nothing to do with that incident': Comedian Kim Dae-bum loses MC gig after being mistaken for assault suspect

Comedian Kim Dae-bum says he lost an MC booking for a mid-October event after being mistakenly identified as a fellow comedian arrested on assault charges.

Kim said Wednesday on Instagram that he had been preparing for an MC role at an event scheduled for mid-October when an organizer called him that day to say they had seen recent news reports about an assault and were giving the job to someone else.

Kim said he told the organizer he was not the person involved and had no connection to the incident, but the organizer replied, "We're sorry you've been mentioned in connection with something unfortunate," and unilaterally canceled his booking.

Kim expressed his frustration bluntly, writing, "It's not me."

"Event organizers, I have nothing to do with that incident. I didn't do anything," he wrote. "You can still book me for events."

On Sept. 20, the Seoul Seocho Police Station arrested a comedian surnamed Kim — a KBS open-audition hire — on suspicion of assaulting a driver under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. The suspect is accused of grabbing and shaking the neck of a designated driver while the car was traveling on the Gyeongbu Expressway, after calling the driver to take him home following a night of drinking at a bar in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The suspect previously appeared on KBS's "Gag Concert," among other programs.

The day after the arrest became public, Kim posted on Instagram that he had noticed some commenters speculating that he was the person involved. "I am not," he wrote.

At the time, Kim also said he was not in South Korea and had no connection whatsoever to the incident.

This is not the first time comedians have suffered harm from baseless speculation. On Sept. 2, a man who claimed to be an SBS open-audition comedian caused a disturbance at a bar, triggering a wave of online speculation that implicated several comedians. The Korean Broadcasting Comedians Association said the man did not appear on any broadcaster's list of open-audition or special-hire comedians and was impersonating one.