‘Beef’ Star David Choe Stirs Controversy for Past Rape Claims: I’m a “Successful Rapist”

While Netflix‘s new drama miniseries Beef has quickly climbed its way to the top of the streamer’s charts, this buzzy reception also unveiled the allegedly dark history of one of the show’s lead actors, David Choe. 

The new series — starring and produced by Ali Wong and Steven Yeun — follows two hot-headed strangers who stalk each other after a road rage incident. Eventually, their feud comes to involve their loved ones and family. 

Choe plays the no-good cousin of Yeun’s Danny Cho. Throughout the series, the character is in and out of prison, and at one point, takes the lead on a deadly heist.

Additionally, Choe, who is an experienced artist, contributed the title artwork for several of the episodes. Creator Lee Sung Jin told Indiewire, “David Choe, who plays Isaac, suggested I use his paintings. He stopped showing his work publicly over a decade ago, so he had hundreds of paintings no one had ever seen.”

The creator continued, “He graciously allowed me to pick the ones I felt fit the episodes the best.” Indiewire complimented the artwork, writing, “Choe’s work is an excellent match for the series, frenetic and brimming over with messy emotion — whether that emotion is desire, longing, or something uglier.” 

However, in the days following the show’s premiere, a tweet went viral featuring Choe’s disturbing comments about an alleged assault from a 2014 episode of his podcast DVDASA, which he co-hosted with adult film star Asa Akira.

According to his own telling, the woman David Choe assaulted is Black. He describes himself as “a successful rapist.” @MelissaStetten has the receipt: https://t.co/gp400Bo2RS pic.twitter.com/F5kNCr2loM

— Aura Bogado (@aurabogado) April 13, 2023

In the video, the actor recalled getting a massage from a masseuse he refers to as Rose. Choe alleged that he got an erection during the massage and began masturbating in front of Rose without her consent. He then detailed inappropriately touching her.

According to a 2014 report from Buzzfeed, Choe said in the since-deleted podcast episode, “It’s dangerous and it’s super self-destructive. I’m at a place and there’s potential for a lawsuit… and she has given me no signs that she’s into me or that this is appropriate behavior.”

He continued, “So I go back to the chill method of you never ask first, you just do it, get in trouble and then pay the price later.”

The actor went into detail about assaulting the masseuse after forcing her to put oil on his penis, saying, “She’s definitely not into it, but she’s not stopping it either. I say, ‘Kiss it a little,’ she says, ‘No, all the massage oil is on it,’ and I take the back of her head and I push it down on my dick and she doesn’t do it. And I say, ‘Open your mouth, open your mouth,’ and she does it and I start face-fucking her.”

He continued, “I would have been in a lot of trouble right now if I put her hand on my dick and she’s like, ‘Fucking stop, I’m gonna go call security.’ That would have been a much different story. But the thrill of possibly going to jail, that’s what achieved the erection quest.” 

In the video that has resurfaced online, his co-host and guests joked along and asked Choe to describe the appearance of the masseuse. When Akira called the actor “a rapist,” he called himself “a successful rapist.”

Decider reached out to Netflix for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Over the years, Choe has issued several apologies for his behavior, and claims that the story was a joke. In April 2014, he issued a statement, writing, “If I am guilty of anything, it’s bad storytelling in the style of douche. Just like many of my paintings are often misinterpreted, the same goes with my show,” per Buzzfeed.

He shared a lengthy apology on Instagram in 2017 after his Manhattan mural was defaced and protested. “In a 2014 episode of DVDASA, I relayed a story simply for shock value that made it seem as if I had sexually violated a woman. Though I said those words, I did not commit those actions. It did not happen.”

He added, “I am deeply sorry for any hurt I’ve brought to anyone through my past words. Non-consensual sex is rape and it is never funny or appropriate to joke about.” 

Choe claimed that he “was a sick person at the height of my mental illness” and has dedicated time to “healing” himself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DAVID CHOE (@davidchoe)

In a 2021 interview with The New York Times, Choe addressed the controversy, saying that he felt motivated to tell the story by a “morbid curiosity to feel an external response to the internal shame I felt.” 

He described growing up in poverty and being sexually abused in the past. Additionally, the actor described the challenges he faced getting his work picked up by studios because of his controversial past. Choe claimed that the studios were concerned that he was “getting canceled.” 

He then told NYT, “I don’t know if I’ve said anything to you right now that I’m going to get canceled for, so I just assume any time I do anything, the haters come out,” he said. “If you want to come and try to cancel me, that’s OK… I don’t live in fear.”

Choe has also made appearances in Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and The Mandalorian.

If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.