Netizens Re-examine Ryu Jun-yeol’s Qualifications As Environmental Ambassador Following Dating Scandal

On March 18th, a netizen on X (formerly Twitter) recently made a post revealing that they had terminated their donation to the international environmental organization Greenpeace of which Ryu Jun-yeol served as a promotional ambassador.

This netizen said, “I applied for donation cancellation but didn’t receive any call for several hours, so I contacted them directly. When asked about the reason for my cancellation, I mentioned the issue of the promotional ambassador and they seemed to be aware of the current situation”.

They continued, “But their following response was, ‘We don’t have the right to give feedback on the promotional ambassador about their personal matters’. I understand what they meant but if Greenpeace remains silent when their promotional ambassador engages in controversial behaviors, how can they ask us to increase our donation every month and voice against the government or institutions that harm the environment?”.

Currently, there are one or two more people who have canceled their donations to Greenpeace because of Ryu Jun-yeol. Netizens on X have stopped donating one after another.

The reason behind this criticism is Ryu Jun-yeol’s love for golf. Amid the recent controversy over transit love rumors surrounding the actor, netizens have re-examined his other behaviors and raised discussions.

Ryu Jun-yeol started sponsoring Greenpeace in 2016 and later became the first official ambassador of Greenpeace’s East Asia branch. The actor also filmed a video for Greenpeace campaign to raise people’s awareness of the seriousness of the climate crisis. Through his Instagram, the actor also showed how he practiced the campaign in real life to reduce single-use plastics. In 2021, Ryu Jun-yeol even had a video call with former President Moon Jae-in as an environmental activist taking the lead in carbon neutrality. 

Ryu Jun-yeol is also famous as an actor who loves golf. He once expressed extraordinary affection for golf in an interview back in 2021 and also confessed that golf helped him a lot during the filming of “The Night Owl” in 2022. He also posted on Instagram pictures of himself wearing a golf suit and enjoying this sport.

However, golf is considered one of the major contributors to environmental destruction. It is because many golf courses have been built with ignorance of the presence of endangered species living on those lands. Next, the use of pesticides for lawn management also has negative effects on the environment. In order to keep the lawn of the golf courses looking beautiful, they normally pour a large amount of pesticides on it. The bigger problem is the number of golf courses is increasing and residual pesticides are detected, which contributes greatly to soil and water pollution.

For this reason, netizens are criticizing Ryu Jun-yeol. Some netizens on X said, “While filming ads for polar bear protection and climate crises, how can he still model for American Cadillac cars and whiskey, which consumes a lot of energy in the production process?”, “It’s nothing if he just plays golf, but he’s a Greenpeace ambassador… I think you have to remind yourself that polar bears are losing their habitat… Golf courses are built by destroying mountains and polluting the environment. You have the freedom to play golf but…”, “Other evaluations about him as an actor may vary. But how can you be a Greenpeace ambassador and still enjoy playing golf? What kind of ambassador is that? Haven’t you been an ambassador for a while?”, etc.

On the other hand, some expressed opposing opinions to defend Ryu Jun-yeol. A netizen said, “He’s an environmental activist. He’s making efforts and engaging in activities for the environment. No one can be perfect in all their actions. If you impose double standards on everyone like that, no one is perfect. He’s been supporting Greenpeace for 8 years, isn’t that admirable enough?”