A mukbank YouTuber posted a video of himself ordering food 20 times on a 15-hour flight, leading to a massive amount of backlash. What’s perhaps most interesting is that he ended up taking down the video, and issued an apology.
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YouTuber orders massive amounts of food on flight
A Korean mukbang YouTuber with around 780,000 subscribers faced quite a bit of backlash over a recent video he uploaded. For those not familiar with the “mukbang” concept, this is when people upload videos or have live streams in which they consume massive quantities of food, often while interacting with an audience.
That brings us to the 25-year-old Korean YouTuber who goes by the name Yuno, as he flew a 15-hour flight. While it’s described as being “first class,” it appears to be Asiana’s Airbus A380 Business Suite product, which is more of a “business class plus.”
Anyway, during the video, which has since been deleted, he reportedly ordered food a total of 20 times throughout the flight.
He ended up getting a lot of backlash over the video, with viewers pointing out the burden this put on the crew, and how it could impact the other passengers on the flight.
YouTuber issues apology, promises to do better
Cultures obviously differ greatly around the world. In the United States, we all too commonly see people simply double down when they’re called out on things, and remain unapologetic. Korean society is of course a bit different when there’s negative feedback.
So he ended up not only removing the video, by issuing an apology, sharing (in part) the following:
“I was only focused on the idea of making new content. I made an easy assumption that if I asked the flight attendants for their understanding when I boarded and they said it was fine, then it would be okay. I did not think enough about how asking for so many in-flight meals could burden the flight attendants and inconvenience the other passengers in the same space. That was a lapse in judgment.”
“Even though my repeated, unreasonable requests must have been hard on them, they stayed kind and smiling until I got off, and I’m grateful for that. I feel even sorrier because I think I leaned too much on their kindness. Looking back, it really was too much. It was my first time in such a good seat, and in my excitement, I rationalized what I was doing, telling myself one more time would not hurt.”
He did however defend himself by explaining that he only ordered food in three sessions, with filming taking place over the course of a little of two hours:
“Some accounts are portraying it as if I kept asking for food throughout the flight, so I want to state the facts. The filming took place over about two hours and 10 minutes, split into three sessions during the roughly 15-hour flight, at meal times and after I woke up.”
Bottom line
A Korean YouTuber uploaded a mukbang video of a premium cabin flight on Asiana, where he reportedly ordered food 20 times over the course of 15 hours.
He ended up facing quite a bit of backlash over this stunt, as people thought it was selfish and inconsiderate toward others. As a result of this, he deleted the video and apologized, explaining that he hadn’t considered how this impacted others.
Hey, I commend him for at least apologizing, that’s at least a lot more than we typically see in the US!
What do you make of this mukbang stunt?
What was the point of him doing this?
It's a trend in South Korea - instead of unboxing stuff, they eat a lot of stuff in one sitting.
Social media is the antithesis of a civilized society.
Amen!!!
One can only wonder how many days these YouTubers spend on the toilet after making these videos.
If he indeed consulted this with the crew, and they said it's okay (for example in terms of quantity of food loaded on board), then I don't really see much problem here. Apart from filming content on board being disruptive in general, but that sadly that seems to be the new standard.
No, there is a problem. In Asian cultures, particularly in South Korea, cabin crew are unable to refuse such requests from passengers. Especially if he is a well-known influencer.
If he had genuinely intended to carry out his duties without causing any trouble, he should have consulted the airline in advance.
In fact, this is precisely why he has faced such fierce criticism in South Korea. There is a growing trend in South...
No, there is a problem. In Asian cultures, particularly in South Korea, cabin crew are unable to refuse such requests from passengers. Especially if he is a well-known influencer.
If he had genuinely intended to carry out his duties without causing any trouble, he should have consulted the airline in advance.
In fact, this is precisely why he has faced such fierce criticism in South Korea. There is a growing trend in South Korea towards such behaviour being socially unacceptable.
That's basically why he's being socially ostracized in South Korea at the moment.
He says he got permission from the cabin crew, but in South Korean society, his behaviour is seen as an abuse of power because of his status as an influencer.
This kind of behaviour is becoming more and more unacceptable in South Korean society.
It's like the guy who goes into an airport lounge with an empty gym bag and loads it up with food. Some might think it's cute but it's low class. And, in response, the lounges end up imposing restrictions that affect everyone. (I can think of one contributor to one forum who brags about doing it.)
Maybe he took one for the team and showed viewers what each option was like so they could be selective and not waste food on their flights. I don't think anyone enjoys eating that much food, so I'm not really upset.
That's exactly why printed+online menus were invented, so people "could be selective and not waste food."
Have you ever been let down by how food actually comes out after you order it?
I'm less worried about the flight attendants after this stunt than I am about the state of the lavatory.
Muk-whowhat?? Ohh.. so that’s what that’s called (filming yourself eating alone.)
Yeah, part of 'mukbang' is eating alone, but the most important thing is the large quantitites.