Getting called out as “the BJ in the Itaewon crush disaster”, Kei released a statement explaining the whole situation at that time
AfreecaTV BJ Kei (Park Joong-gyu) paid tribute to the victims of the Itaewon crush tragedy and revealed his position on the rumors related to him.
On the afternoon of October 30th, Kei posted on AfreecaTV, saying “Before writing this, I want to express my condolences to the victims. It was so heartbreaking.”
He continued, “Even in such a sad situation, I saw speculative comments about me through online posts”, adding “A lot of people are making comments saying that the accident occurred when many people gathered because of me. I’m sure those who watched my broadcast would understand, but some people are actually spreading unreasonable stories and false facts.”
Earlier on October 29th at around 10 p.m, a large crowd flocked to a small alley next to Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul in celebration of Halloween and caused a large-scale crush disaster to occur. According to the fire authorities as of 6:30 p.m on October 30th, there were 153 deaths and 133 injuries.
Immediately after the accident, witnesses who were interviewed by the media testified that “the accident happened after a famous BJ appeared”. As a result, the controversy intensified when some Internet users called out Kei, who did a live broadcast at the scene of the accident, as the “famous DJ” in the witnesses’ testimonies.
In this regard, Kei explained, “I didn’t visit the bar but was accidentally pushed into the bar due to the crowd”, adding “The employee told me to not go outside because it was very dangerous out there, so I stayed inside the building for about 30 minutes until the situation on the street was in the police’s control. I then left Itaewon through the alley opposite the scene of the accident”.
He went on saying, “The spread of false information was so severe that AfreecaTV even asked me to tell them the exact details and informed all the routes and times I had been yesterday”, adding “I think you will realize the truth after looking through all fo that”.
Lastly, Kei said, “Once again, I would like to express my condolences to the victims of the Itaewon crush disaster and the bereaved families”.
Meanwhile, Kei is a popular BJ who has been doing broadcasts on AfreecaTV for more than 10 years. It was confirmed that Kei did a live broadcast with his fellow BJs in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, but ended the livestream immediately after getting pushed by the crowd.
At that time, viewers who watched the broadcast reacted, “Many people gathered around Kei because he turned on the live broadcast”, “Kei was also pushed into the store by the crowd and couldn’t come because there were so many people”, “It’s not anyone’s fault. I don’t know why people are making such a fuss”, “But I still hope celebrities, such as Youtubers, BJs, or streamers, don’t do this at crowded place”, “The first thing we should do now is mourning the victims”, etc.
Source: wikitree
