On October 2, chef Seonkyoung Longest posted a video on her social media, along with the caption: “That’s not even a thousandth of the comments I’ve received on my YouTube channel.”
The video revealed a series of offensive and abusive comments posted on his channel. Some commenters not only hurled insults but also launched personal attacks.
In response, Seonkyoung expressed her anger, asking: “Who’s to say this isn’t cyberbullying?”
He also added screenshots of the malicious comments, both in their original form and translated into English, stating: “This isn’t even the worst thing. I’ve been receiving these comments non-stop since last Tuesday. More than 8,000 people commented on just one video. Seriously, how can you not call it cyberbullying?”
Seonkyoung Longest, a global cooking YouTuber with 2.21 million subscribers, has gained recognition for winning a survival cooking competition in the United States. He worked as an executive chef at the M Resort in Las Vegas, ran a vegan food truck in Hawaii and wrote cookbooks.
However, after appearing on Netflix’s “Culinary Class Wars,” she was subjected to sudden waves of hateful comments. The negativity largely stemmed from his perceived lack of teamwork and communication issues on the show, particularly during conflicts with fellow chef Choi Kang-rok.
On September 29, Seonkyoung expressed her frustration again, stating, “I never imagined I would be cyberbullied by Koreans, but unfortunately that’s what’s happening now.”
Seonkyoung Longest isn’t the only one on “Culinary Class Wars” who has suffered from hateful comments. Chef Jung Ji-sun also shared his experience of receiving absurd comments. Discussing the back of one of her dishes on her YouTube channel, the chef clarified that she personally cleaned up the sugar syrup used in the dish.
In a previous episode of “Culinary Class Wars,” Jung Ji-sun tried a Chinese cooking technique that involved caramelizing sugar in oil or water and frying pre-fried ingredients.
However, soon after the dish was revealed, some people left malicious comments, claiming that the production team had cleaned up the dishes, such as sugar water left after cooking. In response, Jung Ji-seon firmly stated: “I cleaned it up. I had some time after I finished cooking. You might think it’s hard to clean up, but it’s not that hard. When it hardens, you can simply break it. You don’t need to leave it in the sink to dissolve it. Just touch it on the floor and it will break and you can clean it.
The “Triple Star” chef, a Black Spoon participant, also faced a series of hateful comments.
Notably, in an early episode, this chef was supposed to be judged by Baek Jong-won (also known as Paik Jong-won) or chef Ahn Sung-jae. When Baek Jong-won was assigned to judge his dish, “Triple Star” said in an interview: “I actually wanted to get it from Chef Ahn Sung-jae, but I ended up getting it from Chef Baek Jong-won. I thought a lot that I had failed”, adding“As far as I know, Chef Baek Jong-won loves intuitive flavors and cooking popular dishes, but I wondered if he would know when I would put so much effort into it.”
This remark sparked a negative reaction from viewers, who criticized it as an “unwise statement”. Negative comments continued to flood his social media accounts.
Additionally, in a recent episode, Chef Ahn You-seong, Korea’s 16th master chef, was eliminated after he was suddenly removed from his original team led by Chef Choi Hyun-seok. Afterwards, netizens intensified their criticism of Choi Hyun-seok.
Although the show has gained enormous popularity, the negative reaction that has accompanied it seems disproportionate. While such reactions may be inevitable in high-profile projects, excessive criticism of the chefs, who joined the show with the hope of promoting the food industry, may be beyond the pale.
Meanwhile, “Culinary Class Wars” is a Netflix Korean cooking show that features a battle between highly trained “Black Spoon” chefs (non-famous chefs) and “White Spoon” chefs (famous chefs). The final episode will be released on October 8.
Source: Daum
