Squid Game controversies swell with Park Sung Hoon's porn parody post on Instagram amid national mourning

Park Sung Hoon's since-deleted NSFW Instagram post has expanded the pool of Squid Game controversies that began surging even before the sequel's Dec premiere.

Squid Game actor Park Sung Hoon’s latest Instagram debacle has fuelled the controversy bank associated with the breakout Netflix hit series. The K-drama star uploaded a parody Japanese adult video (AV) cover of the Hwang Dong Hyuk directorial series, which has since been deleted. The December 30 Instagram post comes a day after 179 out of 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 lost their lives after the Jeju Air flight crash-landed at Muan International Airport in South Korea. Numerous K-pop fans returning from the 2024 Asia Artist Awards ceremony are also believed to be among the victims of the Jeju Air flight 7C2216 crash travelling from Bangkok to the South Korean airport. Passengers on board the aircraft reportedly included a total of 173 South Koreans.

Park Sung Hoong plays a transgender character awaiting gender affirmation surgery in Squid Game Season 2.

The unprecedented development surrounding Park comes hot on the heels of the show’s recently released sequel being review-bombed. The Hallyu celebrity promptly deleted his social media post featuring an X-rated portrayal of several women in NSFW scenes, parodying the Squid Game poster. Despite the actor’s swift reaction to the post, his Instagram Story update instantly went viral online, with screenshots of the same spreading online like wildfire. Many considered the possibility of his profile being hacked. However, the theories were debunked after Sung Hoon’s agency confirmed that he had indeed accidentally uploaded the post himself.

Squid Game actor Park Sung Hoon's agency responds

“The actor himself was deeply shocked and feels extremely sorry for making such a mistake, especially in these circumstances. He will be more careful in the future to ensure this does not happen again.”

UPDATE (January 2 IST): BH Entertainment has since revised its stance on the Park Sung Hoon controversy. After its preliminary statement meant to clean up the mess created, the agency issued another one saying, “Actor Park Sung Hoon said yesterday, ‘It was uploaded due to a mistake while checking the DMs,’ but we would like to explain in more detail.”

Elaborating further on the actor's “mistake,” the company said, “Park Sung Hoon received it (the Japanese AV cover) as a direct message, but he felt it was problematic, so he downloaded the photo in question with the intention of sending it to the company manager. He should have saved it, sent it to the manager, and then deleted it right away, but it was uploaded by mistake.”

BH Entertainment also addressed why the Squid Game Season 2 star decided to report the DM: “I think he decided to send it because he thought it would be a problem that such strange things were floating around about his work.”

Seemingly no end to Squid Game controversies

Even prior to these consequences, Sung Hoon’s involvement in the K-drama as a transgender character awaiting gender affirmation surgery generated massive buzz. In addition to The Glory standout’s introduction to Season 2, premiering on December 26, the star-packed cast welcomed newcomers Yim Siwan, Kang Ha Neul, Park Gyu Young, Lee Jin Wook, former BIGBANG member TOP, aka Choi Seung Hyun, and others.

Squid Game has previously been shrouded in a contentious light owing to TOP’s past marijuana use and subsequent charges. The controversial streak was at one point even tied to leading star Lee Jung Jae’s fraud allegations and other staff-related public fiascos.

Meanwhile, South Korea has begun its week-long national mourning period in the wake of the December 29 air disaster.