A Warm Letter from Matchbox to You

Hello, I am Choe Yeungjun, CEO of Matchbox. Were you surprised by Strongberry's statement the other day? I also felt uneasy having to approach you with such sudden bad news. Today, I want to speak from my personal perspective, openly and honestly.

I am disheartened that some users continue to behave poorly even after we released the statement. We do not wish to control every user's actions according to our desires. However, targeting and continuously harassing someone is an entirely different issue.

This incident has caused me a lot of stress and concern. Instead of writing this letter and the statement, I wish I could have spent that time handling company tasks to bring you our content more quickly.

In the world of BL, we often engage in unseen role-playing. Actors try to maintain the illusion of a romantic relationship with their on-screen partners, even off-screen, to not shatter the fantasies of the audience. This started as a service to viewers but has now become a rule we seemingly must follow. Hence, I've come across comments accusing actors of joining BL productions just to gain popularity, even if they have girlfriends.

To appear in a BL production for popularity? In my view, this is a reality and an important aspect of Korean BL production. In Korea, there is still a lot of stigma towards men loving men. For professional actors, it takes a lot of courage to take on roles in BL dramas in such an environment. Despite the potential negative impact on their careers, there is a trend of people recognizing actors' participation in BL projects as a move to gain popularity. This shift has allowed us to collaborate with more talented actors.

As actors gain popularity, production companies receive funding for BL projects, streaming platforms pre-purchase these projects, and even the government provides production support funds for them. I appreciate these efforts to gain popularity, as it gradually makes same-sex love seem more ordinary to more people.

I've seen comments suggesting that, like some advanced BL nations, only gay actors should be cast in BL dramas. Well, if we did that, it would be challenging to showcase BL in Korea for various reasons.

Thus, the Korean BL market is intricately driven by individual desires. If the current situation of pressuring actors continues, we will no longer be able to work with good actors. This is why other production companies are also paying attention to this situation. After releasing our statement, I've received calls from several companies.

I've read comments blaming the production company for not coordinating Instagram posts with actors in advance. We did coordinate to maintain the audience's fantasy. But I never expected that the lead actor's Instagram would be discovered before the official reveal. Asking actors to clean up their personal Instagram for a project is unreasonable and regrettable. I won't make such requests in the future; it's somewhat embarrassing to have even considered it.

I pondered a lot before releasing the statement. Thoughts like, "What if I'm unnecessarily stepping forward and receive hatred?", "Am I just stirring up trouble?", or "What if the person causing harm feels even more triumphant?" crossed my mind. However, after hearing about the continuous harassment of the actor over two months, I realized we could no longer remain silent. When the harassment first started, I asked the actor, "Should we take action?" to which they replied, "It's okay, I can endure it myself." But then, the harassment began to extend to those around the actor and even to the project itself.
 

It seems that the excessive harassment is being carried out by one person, who operates an Instagram channel with tens of thousands of followers and creates sub-accounts to pretend to be someone else. The forms of harassment include tagging the actor in negative comments, sending DMs to the actor and his girlfriend, and to the production company. I considered revealing this account and asking for help, but decided against it, thinking we would be no different from that user.

Despite trying not to care, it's hard not to be affected when the harassment persists with constantly changing IDs. It has had a negative impact on our production from the beginning, making life feel hopeless. Imagine how difficult it must have been for the actor. I am so sorry and grateful that they endured to the end. Instead, please send a DM to me, the representative. My Instagram ID is redsunjun. I'd appreciate a follow too. I want to be popular as well, haha.

I'm uncertain how to handle such incidents in the future. It's a subtle and ongoing form of harassment that's difficult to counter. If you have any good suggestions, please let me know.

Strongberry has many more contents lined up for release in the future. Thanks to the overwhelming support from our audience behind the scenes, we are able to persevere and move forward. Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy message. We will not post any further about this issue, so please forget about it and enjoy our productions comfortably.

Oh, and isn't it more interesting when actors with girlfriends take part in BL productions? I recall a time when another actor, years ago, confided in me about shooting a BL drama. They ended up genuinely falling in love during the filming, which led to a challenging few months afterward. But let's keep their identity a secret, haha...(fades away)

We'll greet you again with fantastic productions. Goodbye~