KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 ― South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae made history today by becoming the first Asian to win Outstanding Lead Actor at the 2022 Emmy Awards for his role as Seong Gi-hun or Player 456 in Squid Game.
The win followed series director Hwang Dong-hyuk's win for Outstanding Director for a Drama Series, giving them s historic haul of six from a total of 14 nominations.
In their speeches, both thanked Korean and international audiences for watching the series, with Hwang confirming they will be back for season two.
The Korean actor won in a category of nominees Brian Cox (Succession), Adam Scott (Severance), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), and Jeremy Strong (Succession).
While the occasion was a tremendous win for the Asian community, some social media users took to sharing the actor's violent past.
ok, but I just found out that Lee Jung Jae has assaulted a woman, had two DUIs and is also a raging homophobicnow I have to see his face in the new star wars show. ugh, never trust in men pic.twitter.com/jgSXMYX6dy
— Soraya Montenegro (@mottisjandra) September 9, 2022
A post on Instiz, a Korean social media platform, revealed the many past crimes of the actor during his 20s and 30s.
These included assault involving women, drunk driving, and alleged homophobia.
Screenshots of the reports began surfacing on Twitter when the actor was announced to star in The Acolyte, an upcoming Star Wars series.
According to the post, Lee had been involved in four assault cases in the early 2000s with alcohol abuse involved in all of them, two involving Lee injuring women.
In a 2013 interview with Vogue Korea the actor also allegedly told a friend that committed suicide to ‘stop being gay’.
“A while ago, I had to let a loving friend go to the Heavens. I remember telling him, 'Stop being gay. Hasn't it been enough?' but it wasn't easy stopping him.” Lee said.
Reports claiming his friend was the late stylist Woo Jong Wan, were proven false by representatives of Lee.
Twitter users have had mixed reactions to the actor's past crimes, with some have been apologetic while others have criticised his behaviour.
Lee Jung Jae has assaulted a woman, had two DUIs and is also a raging homophobic. Ofc Hollywood https://t.co/Y4qEZknP7C pic.twitter.com/Og5PKtoZJw
— joshy (@joshy21896) September 13, 2022
A lot of these 1st gen/2nd gen kr actors/idols have lots of wild scandals in fact criminal activities. It's crazy how they cleaned their image and are still actively promoting. I'm just learning of this Lee jung jae one and one old gg like that. Crazy how they are still on tv pic.twitter.com/xZ6coUM64J
— V⁷ (@victoriaBtsss) September 9, 2022
These kpop stans are quick to cancel Lee Jung Jae about things that they didn't fully know and happened 20+ years ago yet they stan idols who are known menaces to the society. Y'all hypocrites af
— َ (@noscity) September 9, 2022
That scandal from years ago got nothing on lee Jung Jae.Pack it up kpop/kdrama internet warriors https://t.co/kD6DXqERjX
— Mary luchies (@MaryLuchies) September 13, 2022
The reemergence of Lee’s past crimes has not been addressed by his management at this time.