Comedian Kim Su-young apologizes for blocking viewers who asked about ingredient origins during live crab roe sale

Comedian Kim Su-young has apologized after facing backlash over claims that he blocked viewers who asked about the origin of ingredients during a live-streamed crab roe sale.

On Tuesday, Kim posted on his social media: "I sincerely apologize to those who felt uncomfortable due to the issue of chat messages being blocked regarding the origin of ingredients during a recent live broadcast."

Kim said that during the broadcast he had directly addressed questions about origins, telling viewers that the crabs were female flower crabs from Yeonpyeong Island and that the chili powder was from China. He added that he had also explained what he had confirmed regarding the product's safety.

He said malicious insults and aggressive comments had repeatedly appeared in the chat during the broadcast, making it emotionally difficult, and that it had been hard to respond to every message as they came in rapidly. "In the process, people who had legitimate questions also ended up being blocked and inconvenienced," he said.

Kim said questions from viewers curious about ingredient origins deserved to be respected, and that he would faithfully answer such questions going forward.

Earlier, claims emerged that Kim had blocked some viewers' chat messages asking whether the ingredients used in the crab roe products were domestic or Chinese in origin during a recent live-streamed sale.

After the controversy arose, the seller said the origins of the ingredients were disclosed on the product's detail page. The seller also explained that comments repeatedly appearing in the chat to the effect that Chinese-origin products should be avoided had led to some overly aggressive moderation of the chat.

Kim made his debut as a comedian through KBS's 26th open recruitment class in 2011 and gained wide popularity on "Gag Concert" through a segment called "Father and Son." He married a non-celebrity eight years his junior in 2022 and has since been running a crab roe business with his wife.