Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
As Seungri continues to fall under increasing fire, with not only the media continuing to provide fuel but also his fellow group chat members admitting to wrongdoing, Seungri himself has now spoken to the media with a defense.
In an interview with Sisa Journal done through his lawyer Son Byung Ho, he denies allegations of providing prostitution for investors and participating in overseas gambling, laments connections to tax evasion and police collusion, and describes everything people have been reading in group chats to him joking and embellishing, basically.
During the interview, Seungri stated, “Didn’t all of these events begin with the conversations from the KakaoTalk [chatrooms]? Just as we wrote ‘police chief,’ we were just fools, just friends who were bluffing and showing off without knowing anything.”
Okay, so even in his defense of all this, Seungri’s side is saying the chats may be real but that everything they were saying was just bullshitting for effect. As people have said over and over, his presence in the group chat with Jung Joon Young and others has always been there.
Anyway, he moves on to denying providing prostitution services and participating in overseas gambling, in the process throwing himself a pity party over nobody believing him.
Seungri continued, “These things have caused a public opinion [that I’m involved in] tax evasion and police collusion. Honestly, I’m in a situation where even if I tell the truth, no one will believe it. Even the investigators believe that the contents of the KakaoTalk [chatrooms] are all true and considered evidence. [Sigh] I’m afraid I won’t be judged fairly to be right or wrong due to the fact that I’m famous and a celebrity. Because I feel sorry to the people of Korea, aren’t I in a position where I can’t complain of the injustice or make rebuttals? Finally, to add one more thing, there was no overseas gambling, nor were there prostitution services.”
So he’s claiming that the police believe what was said in the chats is legit and not just them bluffing. The angle where he tries to generate sympathy for himself by saying how hard it is to be famous is rather comical considering the only reason anybody is defending him given what we know so far is because he’s a celebrity.
Seungri then goes into detail in regards to the chats exclusively produced by the Sisa Journal regarding him allegedly setting up prostitution and gambling overseas.
Seungri stated, “When I said that I earned money during that time, or when I sent pictures of money, I was just bluffing and lying. I wanted to show off, so I said things that weren’t even true. ‘A’ didn’t even see me gamble, nor was he there with me. You can find this if you confirm it with the hotel.” Seungri also referred to the business partner as a “scammer.” The same day, Sisa Journal met with Seungri’s lawyer Son Byung Ho. The lawyer explained “A” and Seungri’s conversation from 2014 alluding to prostitution. The two had discussed which woman they should bring to their trip to Indonesia, and Seungri also presented photos and information about the ages, jobs, and personalities of various women, asking his business partner to choose a woman. Lawyer Son Byung Ho explained that “A” had requested Seungri to introduce him to a woman who could accompany him to Indonesia as if she were his wife or girlfriend. He added that “A” had eventually gone to Indonesia with Seungri without any women accompanying them.
Seems relevant to point out that Seungri starts out by addressing the group chats that the likes of SBS reported on, and only gets specific on the chat that was reported exclusively by the Sisa Journal that made him seem like some kind of international pimp. Point being that even if what him and his lawyer are clarifying in regards to the Sisa Journal report turns out to be reality, the meat of the reporting regarding this scandal was obviously done by SBS and that is still unchallenged aside from him saying it was them joking.
Then came the crux of his defense.
Sisa Journal then added that Seungri had sent a message that said, “I was in the wrong. I shouldn’t have gotten involved with those guys and done those things.”
It’s basically setting himself up as a victim for fans to feel sorry for. That he was wrong, not necessarily for bad things he did or said, but primarily because he associated with people who did or said bad things. It is literally an oppa didn’t mean it defense.
As discussed before, the legal case against him is much harder to make than moral case against him, and Seungri’s plan is apparently to play into that and hold out hope that things don’t come crashing down at some later point.
