Let’s be honest—in a shallow, reality TV-loving sort of way. The reason we’re hooked on The Real Housewives and other assemblages of preening, narcissistic drama queens is, well, because they’re fun to watch.
Sure, in the real word of human interactions, their behavior would make our tummies rumble. In the privacy of our bedrooms, however, it’s like we’ve entered a fantasy netherworld where exaggerated human failings are magnified so exponentially that even our worst traits seem trivial and our ho-hum 9-to-5 existence is temporarily pardoned.
So is it any surprise that K-Town, a Korean-American version of all that is wrong with contemporary culture, made its debut on YouTube on July 11?
The show, hyped as a Jersey Shore vehicle set in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, is filled with the types of stock characters you’ve come to expect from the genre: the Diva, the Musclehead, the Party Guy, the Romantic, etc.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
While we’ll leave the cultural deconstruction to others far more qualified, we couldn’t help but notice the absence of a certain character: the Gay One.
Stranger still, sexually ambiguous gay-porn actor Peter Le (link NSFW) was originally slated to join the cast but was later dropped. Was it because the producers were afraid to go there? Or because Le wasn’t playing the game right? “I know most of the people from that show, “ Peter told Queerty. “And they are really laid-back off camera. But in order to get ‘face time,’ you have to say these wild things that are completely out of character.”
Does that include “I’m not straight but I play one on TV?”
Mark
K-Town tweeted that his schedule with his other works did not give him the time to film K-Town so he chose to drop the reality show to continue to pursue his porn career.
Kyle215
This has been making the rounds for the past 3 years to TV nets. It’s now on youtube???
DouggSeven
What’s the big deal? Jersey Shore doesn’t have a gay and none of the Real Housewives are gay. Let’s be honest here – in most single social circles, you tend to ‘hang out’ with friends of the same sexual orientation (minus f-hags, of course). It’s not homophobic, it’s reality and hello, it’s a ‘reality show’. Mind you, saying it’s a ‘reality show’ is stretching the truth since producers always pen some sort of script beforehand.
DJ
I agree Kyle, why isn’t this on MTV or another channel? Why is it on youtube only?
WW
Do not forget, Korean Americans represent the christian church. There is no surprise in the lack of Gay character in this show.
JP
As an Asian, I have to say Asians are not like this in Asian countries. We are not a la Jersey Shore with a F-bombs dropping habit. But likely this show must have been altered in some way in oreder to appear appealing to American audience. A little uneasy on how how they portray Asians on tv, but when this is an American reality tv show, I should not be suprised.
Greg
“sexually ambiguous gay-porn actor Peter Le ”
If you fuck men on camera, you’re gay. There is nothing “ambiguous” about it. I wonder if self-loathing black men back in the day would tell people they were white. I wonder.
Mark
@Kyle215:
How many times have you seen an Asian man on MTV’s Real World in its history? The answer is ZERO. The reality is that MTV doesn’t think that there’s an audience for a show starring Asians. 🙁
avesraggiana
New definition of “Asian-American”: Someone who assiduously divorces himself from all the best of “Asian culture” and marries himself to the all the worst of “American pop culture”. Of course, this is exactly the type of thing that TV audiences the world over, want to see.
louis
This is soooo sad!!!!
Jonathonz
This has absolutely nothing to do with anything that I know about Korean culture. In fact it seems to be about the most embarrassing and shallow parts of American culture. Next.
Charlie
@JP This has nothing to do with people from Asian countries. They are Americans just like how the cast of Jersey Shore are Americans. The Italians from Italy hate Jersey Shore, because of how Italians are being portrayed, which is the same how Koreans are not liking K-Town because of how these Korean Americans are being portrayed.
NickM
To be fair, Peter Le is Vietnamese, not Korean. And from what I know of racial politics among some Asian ethnicities, and about Korean (and Korean American) nationalism, it would make sense for him not to be included due to his ethnicity, not his assumed orientation.
testintg
ugh, I’m so embarrassed to live in Koreatown now