Webtoon artist and TV personality Kian84 has finally addressed the hygiene controversy that has trailed him for weeks, insisting in a new YouTube video that he is “not that dirty.”
In a video titled “Everyday Life Filmed and Edited by Myself 2,” posted to his YouTube channel on November 5, Kian84 cooked fried rice from leftover lunchboxes he had brought home from a filming set, As he headed for a shower, he turned to the criticism that has followed him online. “I’ve been getting scolded a lot lately for not changing my underwear,” he said, “but actually, I’m not that dirty.” According to Sports Chosun, he used the moment to promote a shower filter he had received for an advertisement, telling viewers he uses it at home to shower and wash his face.
The controversy first flared on Netflix’s Kian’s Bizarre B&B Season 2. In episode 9, released on October 6, volleyball star Kim Yeon-koung told viewers Kian84 had gone three days without changing his underwear, and questioned him about lying on bedding while still sweaty after using the sauna. Footage of guest bedding being shaken out and reused without washing drew further criticism. Kian84 pushed back at the time, saying strict washing rules during his military service had left him with an aversion to being told to wash, and that he would wash when he felt like it.
The debate only kept growing. On October 14, former Roo’ra member Go Young-wook publicly criticized Kian84, saying he changes his underwear at least twice a day and could not understand living so unhygienically while filming with a group. Then, on the October 30 episode of MBC’s I Live Alone, Kian84 was shown eating a squid side dish after it fell on the ground during a trip to Jeju for his 43rd birthday, and wiping his mouth with the same towel he had just blown his nose into. Asked what the towel was for, he called it a sports towel he uses to wipe sweat, wash his hair, and even as a dishcloth and a rag, prompting Girls’ Generation’s Yuri to ask, “Why aren’t you sick?”
Kian84’s latest video marks his first direct response to the weeks of criticism, and it shows he is no longer letting the comments go unanswered. Whether his explanation quiets the debate remains to be seen.
