- RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Soju has been accused of sexual assault by several people
- RuPaul’s Drag Race is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race Franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV, WOW Presents Plus, and, beginning with the ninth season VH1. The show documents RuPaul in the search for “America’s next drag superstar.”
- Soju was announced as one of fifteen contestants on the eleventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race on January 24, 2019. She was eliminated in the first episode after doing poorly in the sewing challenge and losing a lip sync to “The Best of Both Worlds” by Hannah Montana against Kahanna Montrese.
Outrage sparked on social media after Soju has been accused of sexual assault and exposed as a sexual predator by several people.
According to details, on January 22, 2021, a Twitter user named Kev shared his experience with Tony Hyunsoo Ha, known in drag race as Soju, that date from 2016 to 2018 that include s*xual assault, sparking others to also share their accounts. See the Screenshots , below.
Alltolearn has not been able to verify any of the allegations and Soju has not responded to them. Some in the Drag Race community, like Shea Coulee, have reached out to the survivors online with words of support.
According to Kev’s account, they met Ha on Grindr at 17-years-old in January 2016. They recount a dynamic that included pushing someone beyond their state boundaries, abuse, manipulation, and gaslighting.”
They also alleged that in October 2016, the pair (Kev and Soju) engaged in an intercourse while Kev was “blackout drunk’ and could “barely walk.” According to this description, Kev would not have been able to give consent.
In one instance, according to Kev, in January 2018 when they were 19 and Hawas 26, the former Drag Race competitor physically forced them to perform oral s*x. As Ha was driving, Kev could not go home until they complied with the demands according to the account. In the days to follow, Kev blocked Ha and the two haven’t spoken since.
“I can’t even begin to describe how triggering and traumatic it was for me to see Soju get on Drag Race,” they wrote. “This is when I was hit in the face like a brick with all of the memories and emotions I had bottled up for so long.” Drag Race season 11 was released in February 2019 but Ha had built a name within the Chicago drag scene and on YouTube with the Shot With Soju brand prior.
“I’ve spent years wondering what would happen if and when I came forward,” Kev wrote. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified of what people might say. I barely decided just a few months ago to do this. I don’t know why but something in my heart told me it was time. Ever since this decision, I’ve been in intensive trauma therapy twice a week to prepare myself for what might come. While I know deep in my heart that my decision to come forward is first and foremost for my healing, I’m also sharing the truth to combat the ways survivors are silenced because we fear, and know well, the possible repercussions for speaking out, especially when its abuse perpetuated by someone in the public eye.”
Since Kev’s post, others have come forward with their own stories. One details a survivor’s experiences with Ha from September 2016 to December 2017. In it, they recount repeatedly having their stated boundaries ignored.
Another Victim, Kevyn, also came forward with similar allegations against Soju. Kevyn has also shared the Screenshots of his chat with Soju. In a series of tweets accompanied with the Screenshots of his chat with Soju, Kevyn wrote:
“Thanks for sharing, from one Kev to another. When I was 16 before Tony was on S11, I had followed him after being a fan of Shot w Soju, and after sometime, he followed me back and started immediately messaging me creepy shit.
Even after knowing I was 16 from my IG and me referencing I was in high school, he still sent me sexual messages and questions. I didn’t acknowledge how wrong what he was doing was until after we stopped talking after many months of him trying to fly me down to the US to hookup (I live in Canada).
After it was clear that I really had no intention of skipping HIGH SCHOOL to go to Chicago or LA to have sex with him, and communication stopped, I didn’t really think too much of bringing this into the public light because I never have a big Twitter presence, and the fact that it has been almost three years. But after hearing other people’s similar stories with Tony, I feel that I should share my experience as well. Soju is a pedophile, and from what I’ve read, a rapist too. She’s dangerous and needs all of her platforms removed.”
In the wake of sexual assault allegations surfacing online, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11 competitor Soju has deleted their Twitter account and changed her Instagram account to private.
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