Yesterday, if you’re an employer, you’d be reading every single article about DPM Heng’s ministerial broadcast, unaware that somewhere out there, youngsters are discussing about another influencer.
Dee Kosh, one of the most popular and eloquent YouTubers in Singapore, made it to the news for all the wrong reasons. Over the weekend, a few people took to Instagram and Twitter to accuse the YouTuber and radio deejay of asking for nudes and sexual favours via Telegram and Instagram. The problem here? Those are minors between the age of 15 to 17 then.
He had initially denied the allegations…
…but yesterday, he came out to apologise, claiming that there is some truth to some of the allegations.
Now, if you’ve been following his contents, you’d most probably think: so, real or not ah? Can like this one meh?
Or maybe even, Oh, that explains…
But if you’re new to the YouTuber / Radio Deejay / Influencer, here are ten facts about Dee Kosh, the latest Eden Ang or a genius to spread an important message about cancel culture.
Who is Dee Kosh as a Person?
Dee Kosh, whose real name is Darryl Ian Koshy, is born on 2 November 1988. The 31-year-old was born in the Philippines, but he has a Singapore citizenship. His parents are an Indian and Chinese, and so he’s often called himself a Chindian, though he can speak Malay.
In 2010, he went back to Singapore to serve his NS, and that was when he learned the local culture and picked up the local accent we’re used to hearing from him, although he can still code-switch to his Philippines English accent (and other accents) easily.
According to an interview (video at the later part of this article), he’s often loved radio and therefore became a radio deejay.
Who is Dee Kosh as an Online Personality?
Dee Kosh’s YouTube channel was officially created in 2006, but he only started to upload his first video 2011. This is the very thin Dee Kosh talking to the camera for the first time:
As one of the pioneer YouTubers in Singapore, he rose to fame with other YouTubers like Noah Yap back then who merely spoke to the camera. Many other YouTubers faded away but Dee Kosh continued to upload videos consistently, changing his niche a few times.
Because of his popularity back then (remember, the YouTube scene was still new in Singapore), he got to join 987FM as a radio deejay in 2011, and joined Power 98 in 2014 since then, having a weekday night show from 9pm to 12am.
Currently, he did a variety of videos for his YouTube channels, but most of the times, it’s just him talking to the camera about certain topics. His latest video is him reacting to cringy TikTok videos.
So yes, unlike other Singapore YouTubers who did high-quality skits or documentaries, he’s much like YouTubers in other countries whereby all he did is to…talk.
He now has over 383K subscribers in his YouTube channel, 229k followers in his Instagram account and 206k followers in Twitter.
And like many influencers, he does have a Facebook Page with 140k followers but isn’t exactly active there.
But the man isn’t just an online personality for himself, because you might have known him from somewhere else.
Actor and Host in NOC
Like him or hate him, you’ve got to admit that the man’s got great time management skills.
Other than his own channels, he also appears regularly in About Night Owl Cinematics’ videos, another popular Singapore YouTube channel that has just crossed the one-million-subscriber mark.
In fact, he’s such a regular there that you might think he works there full-time, as he hosts many shows like Do it for the Money and the highly popular Food King.
But that’s not all. The man appears to have 48 hours a day because…
Talent Management Boss
Details of his talent management business aren’t exactly Google-able, but if you watch his YouTube channels, you’d know about this side business.
Calling them “boys”, he manages a few personalities, all young men who look like Korean oppas. The most popular ones that have appeared in his video regularly are Ben Tang, Xinde and Shi Song, all of them having over 70k followers in their Instagram accounts.
One of them has come out openly to defend Dee Kosh on the latest allegations:
Rants & Calling Out
Dee Kosh’s YouTube channel is an example of a hyper-local channel: he rants about things in Singapore and also calls out people who’s done something wrong.
For example, he called out the infamous Eden Ang, providing evidences of screenshots and asking him to reply to his allegations. Also, he called out other infamous people (and even had a chat with them) like one of the admins of the Nasi Lemak Telegram group and Temasek Poly’s Bumblebee.
Not all his calling out are done on YouTube; he sometimes did it in Instagram instead.
Which is why memes like this went viral overnight:
After all, if a guy decided to kick a cat, we might just tell him about it to call out that evil guy.
But read on, because it gets even trickier to know if everything’s real or not.
The BTS Army Social Experiment
If you’re part of the BTS Army, then you probably know about Dee Kosh through the “BTS Army Social Experiment” back in 2018.
It was so real, I was also tricked into believing him.
In October 2018, he tweeted that all BTS’s songs sound the same, and soon after, BTS fans, known as the Army, came to BTS’s defence. Dee Kosh had then continued to give his unpopular opinion about BTS.
They allegedly did more than that: they allegedly tried to report his YouTube channel and even emailed his boss in his radio station. A petition was even set up to stop him from attending BTS’s concert in 2019.
Soon, his YouTube channel was then inaccessible, and the man cried on a Twitter video, claiming that the fans had taken things too far, calling them “bullies”.
Two days after it all happened, he then released a video on his YouTube channel, saying that it was all a social experiment and showing us the real BTS—behind the scenes—of how he conducted the experiment.
He wanted to show his viewers the effects of “mob mentality”. Remember, back then, cancel culture wasn’t exactly a thing yet, but the idea’s the same.
Reader Bao: Ah, so this latest incident is yet another experiment?
Well, with the police involved now, you can bet that there’s only 5% chance of it being an experiment.
Not Bullying When Laughing at One of His Peers
The YouTuber said in an interview earlier this year that he didn’t consider it as bullying when he laughs “at the stupidity of another one of my peers”.
This came after he made fun of fellow influencer Nicole Choo after she published a poetry book.
He said, “If you put yourself in the public eye and you mess up, and people laugh about it, sadly, it’s just what comes with you being in the public eye…My comedy is a reflection of society, of you, even the bad parts about it, and if you yourself looking in the mirror can’t accept what you see, then of course you’re gonna blame the mirror for bullying you. So if you can’t take the heat, then why are you in the kitchen? Basically, loosen up.”
In that incident, he, together with Munah Hirzi, made a video about Nicole Choo’s book. The video was taken down by YouTube after the publisher did a copyright strike.
Just Had a Podcast Not Too Ago
Lest things didn’t work out and Dee Kosh indeed leaves the radio station, fret not; in May this year, he started a weekly podcast.
As usual, he did what he’s done in YouTube, calling out people and giving his opinions on certain issues without any censorship. In fact, it’s one that’s NSFW, so don’t play it alone in your car.
Or maybe that’s your style lah I don’t know.
His latest episode was out on 9 August, and by right, we should be hearing a new one two days ago.
Claimed to Have Mellowed Down Through the Years
If you think Dee Kosh’s opinions are way too honest without any filter, wait till you read this: the man claimed that he used to be “more brash and abrasive and outspoken.”
Now, he’s learned to be more mindful of his words, and would assess the situation to determine if it’s worth talking about or not.
Well. Which is why I’m still thinking it’s all still a social experiment. #justsaying
Watch 1 Hour of Dee Kosh Being the Real Dee Kosh
If you’ve one hour to spare, this is a good watch:
it’s a YouTube video by former Mediacorp actor Andie Chen, whereby Dee Kosh spoke about his life, opinions and the state of the YouTube scene in Singapore.
The video was uploaded two years ago but it’s still relevant now as Dee Kosh is still a YouTuber and radio deejay.
Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:
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