Jo Byung Gyu Is Hit With Another Bullying Accusation After An Alleged Victim Reveals He Was Beat Up By The Actor
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The Uncanny Counter actor Jo Byung Gyu has been hit with another bullying accusation.
Jo Byung Gyu has been the center of numerous controversial allegations after the success of his drama, The Uncanny Counter. Previously, an alleged former classmate accused the actor of bullying him during their time together in high school. He was also accused of having a close friendship with former Big Bang member, Seungri and those involved with the Burning Sun Scandal. While these two rumors have since been proven false, another bullying allegation has made its way into the headlines.
Similar to the former bullying accusation, this alleged victim was also a former schoolmate of Jo Byung Gyu. They both attended Westlake Boys High School in New Zealand. This time, however, the alleged victim created an entire Instagram account dedicated to the cause with the handle, victimofmr_cho. The first upload onto this Instagram account relays the story of what the victim experienced firsthand with the actor and photos of their proof. Here is what they had to share.
This is about school violence. Firstly, I ask for your understanding. I grew up in New Zealand so I’m more comfortable speaking in English and my Korean is insufficient. Hello everyone. I was a victim of school violence. I attended Westlake Boys High School (I will call it Westlake for short.) Now he’s a famous actor, but Jo Byung Gyu was a terrifying existence to me. You may be asking why I’m writing about my experiences now. I first learned about Jo Byung Gyu’s acting career after his drama ‘SKY Castle.’ At the time, I tried to bring it up in KakaoTalk Open Chat with numerous reporters, but the story didn’t stick. I didn’t know where else to turn or who to tell. Every time I tried, it got buried.
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
The alleged victim explains why it took him so long to write about his bullying experience and what he believes needs to happen to Jo Byung Gyu.
If you read the other accusations, they say the same thing. They all say that they didn’t watch much television. If you live abroad, you don’t get the same access to Korean shows. If you turn on the tv, Korean broadcasts aren’t available so you have to access them by using your computer and searching for specific websites. Whenever I had time to rest, I didn’t want to bother with dramas or variety shows because it was annoying. I watched things on YouTube instead. Jo Byung Gyu started getting famous so he started popping up on my Instagram and YouTube. Anytime he showed up, I was terrified and angry. He is a bad person that needs to be punished. He needs to apologize to me.
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
He continues on with the story about how it all began.
The other day, I saw his name was trending on Naver so I thought, ‘I wonder what he said on a show this time’ but my friend messaged me asking if I saw the bullying accusations against him. He said that someone posted it on Nate Pann. I started reading through the accusation, but I stopped after some time. I wasn’t interested in what kind of person he was in elementary or middle school. I wanted to write about the person that I knew and met. In 2010, he came abroad and instantly became popular due to his good looks. The Korean community is small in Auckland, New Zealand so he became famous amongst all the schools and became acquaintances with all the iljins (people with bad reputations, bullies.)
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
The victim then shares the exact moment when the physical violence began.
One day, our school ended early and I was forced to go to karaoke with three others. I went to the karaoke room in a city called Takapuna. The three of us went there, but the karaoke fee was about $25-30. Of course, I was forced to pay it all. I can’t sing, but I had to in order to increase the mood so I tried my hardest. They told me to sing the last song, but I’m tone deaf so I told him I’m not good at singing. It was then that he grabbed the microphone and started to hit me with it. My knees, legs, shoulders, etc. He kept hitting me so I had to sing and they laughed at me…
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
The story doesn’t end here, however, and the victim continues to share the alleged acts that the actor did to him.
This is happened on the same day. We were assigned to make catapults for our physics homework. I’m not good with my hands so my mom and I worked on it together. The final result turned out well. Due to its large size, I couldn’t figure out how to get it to the school so I tried to put it in a bag, but it didn’t fit. Jo Byung Gyu saw it and said it was embarrassing to walk with me and the catapult that I made, so he it from my hands and smashed it. He took all the rubber bands that came off the catapult and shot them at me (using a gun motion.) More than the physical pain, the memory that I had building the catapult with my mom hurt more. He took it and trampled it without a care. I hated myself for not doing anything about it.
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
He ends his caption with a story about the time numerous different schoolmates cornered him and ganged up on him.
There was a time when I got on his bad side. During our assemblies, all the students gathered in the auditorium every Monday and Friday. After we saw people receive their awards and listened to the principal speak, all the hyungs would take me somewhere. They didn’t hit me, but they threatened me and cursed at me until the bell rang for class. Anytime they felt threatened, they would do this. It was from this moment that the violence got worse. Whenever they saw me, they would kick me or hit me with whatever they were holding. It was raining one day and they beat me up with their umbrellas.
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
The victim then uploaded two more posts following their initial upload. These photos were posted in order to prove his attendance at Westlake Boys High School. The alleged victim shared this specific photo with an explanation of how their school worked. He explained everything from their uniform colors to the different “teams” that their school had.
With this next photo, the alleged victim revealed more of their unpleasant encounters with Jo Byung Gyu. The victim first shared stories about how he was always forced to pay for the actor’s food anytime he was hungry. He also shared how Jo Byung Gyu would steal his allowance money that his parents worked hard for. He then disclosed how ridiculous he felt after seeing one of Jo Byung Gyu’s interviews after he became famous.
After he first became an actor, I saw an interview that he did. In the drama, he had to act like a bully and the interviewer asked him about it. Jo Byung Gyu said that his character’s personality was very different from his own. That he hated fighting and that he doesn’t like those types of situations. I was so angry and so dumbfounded at his response.
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
The former schoolmate concluded with this direct message to the SKY Castle actor.
If Jo Byung Gyu is reading this right now, I want to ask him a question. Do you have any desire to apologize? Every time a story like this breaks out, the least you can do is apologize to the person who is going through trauma. How is it that these stories are so specifically written, but you don’t remember them? While I may live without any problems now, I get nervous and scared being around people so outside of work, I stay home. I believe that the truth will always be revealed. I hope that Jo Byung Gyu will be rightfully punished for what has done.
— @victimofmr_cho/Instagram
While Jo Byung Gyu and his label, HB Entertainment previously released statements denying the actor’s former bullying allegations, they have yet to address this new accusation. Stay tuned for any further updates.
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