Ahn So Hee Quietly Edits Roy Kim Video Title as Backlash Grows

On September 27, the title of Ahn So Hee's latest YouTube video changed. It had gone up two days earlier as "Shopping and cafe-hopping in Hannam-dong with my 10-year friend Roy Kim," a relaxed day-out vlog built around a friendship almost nobody knew existed. By the weekend, the phrase about the length of the friendship was gone from the title, leaving just the neighborhood and Roy Kim's name. Ahn So Hee has not explained the change.

The video itself was ordinary in every way except that one detail. Ahn So Hee, the former Wonder Girls member, and singer Roy Kim spent the day shopping and cafe-hopping in Hannam-dong, chatting about clothes and personal concerns, according to allkpop's coverage of the upload. Then Ahn So Hee told viewers that people did not realize they were friends, adding that it had been almost ten years. Roy Kim confirmed the timeline and said the two first met in the United States.

Their familiarity showed in the small details. Roy Kim said he had attended Ahn So Hee's performances, including her most recent show. Ahn So Hee remembered the flashy knit sweater he wore the first time they met, a piece she said was worth around three million won. At a cafe he handed her a bottle of wine, and the two agreed to film more content together over drinks. Near the end of the video she promoted Roy Kim's new album and upcoming performances, and he told her it felt healing to hear that much support.

The comments turned on Roy Kim's past

The warm reception did not last. Within a day of the upload, viewers started bringing up Roy Kim's 2019 investigation in connection with the Jung Joon Young chatroom scandal. He had been investigated on suspicion of distributing obscene material, and the case ended with a deferred-prosecution disposition in February 2020. By the weekend, the comments under the video had split into two camps.

The critical comments were blunt. One widely repeated reaction asked why viewers had to see "Jung Joon Young's friend Roy Kim" on Ahn So Hee's channel. Another, from a self-described longtime subscriber, said the accumulated disappointment was enough and that the viewer was unsubscribing. Some commenters also asked whether negative comments were being removed because Roy Kim was appearing as a guest.

Defenders pushed back hard. Other commenters argued the criticism was excessive and, in their words, pointed out that Roy Kim was never a member of the infamous group chat. KbizoOm's report on the backlash noted commenters correcting the record, writing that his KakaoTalk room was separate from the chatroom at the center of the wider scandal. The distinction did not settle the argument, and the comments stayed divided.

The title changed without a word

Then the title changed. According to kbizoom, Ahn So Hee's team removed the friendship-length phrase from the video title over the weekend, leaving "Shopping and Cafe Hopping in Hannam-dong With Roy Kim." No statement accompanied the edit, and the video itself remained online with the friendship reveal intact.

On Korean forums, the reaction ran harsher than on YouTube. A Nate thread translated by pannchoa filled with dismissive takes on Roy Kim, including highly upvoted comments saying he had rebranded by enlisting in the Marines and that anything involving him should simply be skipped. Others in the thread treated a decade of friendship itself as evidence against Ahn So Hee.

What the edit leaves unresolved

The edit leaves the situation in an odd place. The video still exists, and viewers who watch it still hear Ahn So Hee and Roy Kim describe a friendship of nearly ten years. Only the headline softened, which suggests the goal was to lower the video's profile rather than take anything back. Other creators have gone the opposite way in similar spots. PewDiePie, for example, announced this weekend that he was ending his vlogs entirely to protect his son's privacy, stepping away from content instead of editing around it.

Reactions to the video remained divided through the weekend, with defenders and critics still arguing in the comments and no statement from either artist addressing the backlash. The internet rarely moves on from an argument it likes, as the still-raging iced coffee job interview debate keeps proving. For now, the only response anyone can see in the Ahn So Hee video is the one in the title: the friendship is still in the footage, but it is no longer in the headline.