Kim Heechul Under Fire For Making An “Inappropriate” Joke Towards WINNER’s Seungyoon and Jinwoo

Variety show Alcohol Street Fighter took down and re-uploaded an edited version of their video from YouTube after their MC, Super Junior‘s Heechul, fell under fire for a joke he had made on air. The issue started with an episode guest-starring boy group WINNER.

Members Seungyoon and Jinwoo were invited to dance to the popular TikTok dance, ZeroTwo, during a game corner. For those that don’t know what ZeroTwo is, it is a TikTok dance popularized due to its simple moves and sexy appeal. In the challenge, the dancer puts their arms up with their hands behind their head as they sway their hips from side to side. Seungyoon and Jinwoo happily obliged to participate in the challenge.

But the problem came when they moved on to the Cocaine dance, which is another trending dance challenge on TikTok. The dance was popularized by Heo Sung Tae‘s comic version on SNL. In the challenge, the dancer simply tries to be as sexual as possible while doing the wave with their bodies to match the song’s rhythm.

All three idols began dancing to the song, waving their bodies in sexy motions. Although the scene has been edited out, the original video showed Heechul making an inappropriate joke towards Seungyoon and Jinwoo. He made a reference to possibly selling provocative content for money.

Are [you guys] going out on PandaTV? [username] has sent you a donation thanks to the Cocaine dance!

— Heechul

The statement became problematic as PandaTV is an internet broadcasting platform that allows people to do live broadcasts. However, it has garnered a reputation for being a platform for “beotbang“, loosely translated as stripping broadcasts. The streamers often dress provocatively on the platform and receive monetary donations from the stream.

Many netizens didn’t find Heechul’s joke funny as they claimed it was inappropriate, “rude,” and “disrespectful” towards WINNER. As Korean society is still very much conservative, being associated with or participating in “beotbang” is frowned upon.

• “I’m so annoyed that I just had to find out what PandaTV was because of him”
• “Kim Heechul gets into controversies with his words so easily… By now shouldn’t he be more careful with his words during broadcasts… I really hate people who make jokes because they think it’s funny when it’s actually rude and disrespectful.”
• “LOL I’m not surprised”
• “Has he finally gone crazy?”
• “Seems like he watches that sort of thing… how dirty”
• “Low class”

Some fans of WINNER are requesting an apology from Heechul. His company, SM Entertainment has not yet given a statement. You can watch the newly edited version of the video below: