YouTube Responds To Why Idol-Turned-Sex Offender’s YouTube Channel Was Terminated

He complained about the “unfair” removal previously.

Go Young Wook, a former member of the 90s K-Pop group Roo’Ra, and a convicted sex offender, had his YouTube channel shut down recently.

Go Young Wook | Sports Kyunghyang

After spending two and a half years in prison for sexually harassing and assaulting three minors, the idol was released in 2015 and remained quiet. But since 2020, he has made subtle attempts to come back into the public sphere, first by launching an Instagram account, and then, in 2024, he started a YouTube channel, which was removed shortly after.

Go launched his channel on August 5 and uploaded nine videos, amassing a considerable following. However, YouTube deleted his account just 17 days after its creation. The disgraced former idol took to his X account to express his frustration at this decision, which earned him even more backlash from netizens.

It looks like my YouTube channel was shut down overnight. I did not upload harmful content, but it must be because I have a criminal history. Is YouTube even allowed to enforce a non-existent rule on just one person? I paid for my sins already… I don’t think it’s fair for it to be OK for some but not for others…

— Go Young Wook

According to Herald Business Daily, the platform explained its reason for terminating Go’s channel on August 26, citing that the decision was taken as per their “Creator Responsibility Guidelines.” These guidelines prohibit creators from engaging in any off-platform behavior that can harm the YouTube community. Though YouTube didn’t specify which behavior of Go led to this termination, many are convinced that it was his criminal record.

Go Young Wook told Star News on August 27, KST, that he had filed an appeal against the deletion and is awaiting the results.