Kpop singer Kwon Do Woon, known for his Trot stints, came out as a gay during the celebration of 10 years of his debut. He is the first Korean singer to make the announcement officially through his agency. Kwon is the only Kpop celebrity to declare his sexual orientation after TV personality Hong Suk Chun came out in 2000.
Kwon made an announcement in this regard through his agency, Trust Entertainment, on October 6. The day marks the singer's 10 years in the Korean entertainment industry.
"I wanted to speak up as a representative voice of sexual minorities and wanted to open up the prospect of coming out more widely in the entertainment industry. I hope to continue representing the LGBTQ community in my role," Kwon said in the statement.
He also took to Instagram to thank his friends and reacted to the news coverage following his announcement. "I was so surprised to find a flood of news articles about me this morning. Thank you all for your support. I will work harder," his post read.
Here is How Netizens Reacted
Kwon is known as the Trot singer as he appeared as a singer for the first time on TBS's 'National College Student Trot Contest' in 2009. He won three trophies - the grand prize, the composition prize, and the lyricist prize in the competition. His most recent work is a dance trot remake of Jang Yoon Jung's Casanova. He is also a permanent guest on a YouTube/Naver live radio show, NAMOLLADIO.
There are mixed reactions from the fans to this news. Many netizens expressed shock over the news, whereas there a good number of people have shown their support to the Trot singer. "One artist coming out as openly gay can help pave the way for other artists to come out (gay, lesbian, bi, trans, anything!) if they want to. In a perfect world, all cultures could grow to accept that maybe we don't all fit in some cookie cutter mold," read one of the comments online.
But netizens also expressed their concern and said that even when there are many celebrities who belong to the LGBTQ community, they cannot come out yet because it will affect their career. "Yeah, the key sentence in this is that he wanted to wait until he felt he had nothing to lose by doing it. Unfortunately, there are many artists who stand to lose their whole career by coming out publicly," said another netizen.
When TV personality Hong Suk Chun announced that he was a gay in 2000, he faced a lot of hate. He even said in an interview that he had gone to the Han River to end his life. But somehow, the support he received from his friends made him be strong and face the reality.
