K-pop idol Jun, from the boyband A.C.E, has opened up about playing a gay character in the K-drama series Tinted With You.
Tinted With You, which premiered in December 2021, is a historical-fantasy BL series, a popular genre in Asia that depicts male same-sex romances in comics, novels and dramas. In the show, high school student Eun-ho (Jun) is drawn into the past through a mysterious painting, where he meets and forms a romantic bond with Crown Prince Lee Heon (Yoo Hyun-woo).
“I thought about it a lot, in great detail,” Jun said of the role in an interview with Teen Vogue, which noted South Korea’s conservative political and social climate, “because I knew that there would be a mixture of responses within the audience watching this drama.”
Jun, who is also the boyband’s leader, revealed that his bandmates Byeongkwan and Chan had warned him of the challenges of taking on such a role as a K-pop idol. “[They] told me that it wouldn’t have been an easy challenge to take on such a role as an idol and that they were proud of me,” he noted.
Elsewhere in the interview, Jun also discussed how he hopes that Korean BL dramas like Tinted With You will help “break down prejudices and create a more equal world for all”, while noting then significance of a K-pop idol being cast in such a series.
“I am quite open-minded about [the topic of] LGBTQ+ [people] and respect everyone’s values and decisions,” Jun added. “I definitely don’t think it’s something that is wrong because we are all born differently. I’ve always thought quite simply about this topic – what is, is.”
Last week, Netflix shared its plans to continue investing heavily in Korean content for the rest of the year. “All our rivals are aggressively investing in the Korean market and we will also keep pace with them,” said Netflix Korea’s Vice President of Content, Don Kang.
