Christian Lagahit's encounter with racism has sparked conversation on the online forum Reddit. One user reposted an excerpt from a Koreaboo article in 2021 that detailed the actor’s experience in South Korea, which has gained over 3.9K upvotes in the "r/ChikaPh" thread.
In case you didn't know, Christian is the Filipino actor who portrayed Player 276 in the hit Korean series Squid Game. The now-viral post about his unfortunate experience, which was posted July 21, has been encouraging more Filipino users to share their own experiences with racism from South Koreans in the thread.
READ: Filipino Actor Christian Lagahit on Experiencing Racism from South Koreans
Christian first recounted the experience back in October 2021, when he was interviewed by Asian Boss, a YouTube news channel covering sociocultural issues in Asia. Following Squid Game's immense success at the time, the actor sat down with the news agency and narrated his experiences as a Filipino living in South Korea.
During the interview, Christian described several instances of racism and discrimination. One of the most memorable was when he boarded a village bus during its final trip of the day. "There was this woman who was just staring at me," he recalled. "At first, I didn't pay attention because I thought she might be looking at the boys [who were sitting in front of me]."
Just a few minutes later, Christian was startled when something suddenly hit his face. "She threw a cabbage on my face," he recounted. "There [were] a lot of people inside the bus, it was filled, but no one was there to at least help me."
When Christian asked the lady why he threw the cabbage at her, the other passengers told him that she wanted him to step out of the bus, simply because he wasn't Korean and that the bus was intended for Koreans only.
Nonetheless, Christian stood his ground and asserted that "there's no such thing as a 'foreigner bus' in Korea." He also explained to the group of ladies that it was the last bus ride and he had no means to take a taxi, especially since he couldn't speak Korean back then. Still, the South Koreans insisted that he should step out of the bus.
Even as the lady, whom Christian assumed was in her late 50s, was already exiting the bus, she continued to shout in Korean: "All foreigners here in Korea are bad people."
"I remember those lines from her," Christian said.
Netizens React to Christian Lagahit Experiencing Racism in South Korea
The Reddit thread, originally posted by user @Fragrant_Coach_408, has garnered quite the attention since posting. As of press time, it has over 3.9K upvotes and 699 comments.
The post has prompted many other netizens to share their own experiences of racism with Koreans, with the most upvoted comment claiming that South Koreans are being touted as the "French of Asia." One user also shared an encounter with a Korean-owned dive shop in Cebu, where they felt discriminated against in their own country.
Who Is Filipino Actor Christian Lagahit?
Christian Lagahit is a Filipino actor based in South Korea. Born in 1986, he's most notably known for portraying Player 276 in the Netflix series Squid Game. In previous reports by Koreaboo, it was revealed that he originally auditioned for the role of Anupam Tripathi's character Ali Abdul, but given the many speaking lines required, the production needed someone who was more fluent in Korean.
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