Sam Okyere Receiving Intense Backlash For Opening A YouTube Channel Following His Controversies

Television personality Sam Okyere is making his return to the small screen.

Television personality, Sam Okyere | Kyunghyang News

Sam Okyere has opened up his own YouTube channel, marking his small return to the entertainment industry. He uploaded a short 12-minute vlog to commemorate the channel, but it is being met with severe backlash from the Korean public.

Sam Okyere’s first vlog, likes to dislikes ratio circled in red | YouTube

Previously, Sam Okyere was criticized after uploading a photo condemning Korean high schoolers for using blackface as a part of their costume. The Korean students were parodying a famous Ghana funeral ceremony that went viral earlier last year. While Sam Okyere’s post called out the distasteful parody, it was received poorly by netizens who believed it was inappropriate of the television personality to expose the identities of the underage students.

South Korean high school students using blackface as part of their parody | The Korea Times

Netizens also called him out on his hypocrisy when a past episode of JTBC‘s Abnormal Summit came to light. Sam Okyere, who was once a fixed member of the show had made the racial “slant eye” gesture with his fingers for one of the episodes. While he defended his actions by stating that he “only made that face when we were talking about an ugly face competition,” it was received poorly by the nation.

Sam Okyere’s slant eye gesture on “Abnormal Summit” | JTBC

The former television personality received even further backlash when a photo of him and actress Park Eun Hye went viral. Sam Okyere commented on a fan’s comment, which said, “Once you go black, you never go back.” This is a phrase that is usually associated with sexual preferences. Sam Okyere responded to that comment by saying, “preach!!!!!”, which insinuates his agreement to the sexual innuendo.

Due to the fact that these comments were made under a photo of Sam Okyere and Park Eun Hye, it was met with heavy criticism. Many netizens claimed that it was sexual harassment towards the married actress, which created a bigger backlash towards the television personality. This eventually led to Sam Okyere ultimately deleting all of his social media and departing from his programs.

Sam Okyere’s former Instagram photo and comment | The Korea Daily

Due to his numerous controversies, Sam Okyere has been relatively quiet since his social media cleanse back in August of 2020. After his recent YouTube channel launch, however, netizens were quick to remind the television personality of his wrongdoings and have been pouring out their negative feedback on his channel.

| YouTube

• “Everyone go report his channel.”
• “You have the audacity to come back after sexually harassing Park Eun Hye. You’re not going back to Ghana?!”
• “Once you go black, you never go back.”
• “Preach.”
• “Are you uncomfortable? We are also uncomfortable.”
• “Sam Okyere was demeaning to Asians. We need to translate it all in English and let everyone know.”

Netizens believe that Sam Okyere never apologized for his actions and disappeared quietly in the middle of all of his controversies. This may be the reason why his return is not being received well, even though it has been 8 months since the beginning of his hiatus.