YouTuber clarifies intimate pictures of himself and his manager Dee Kosh

Amid the ongoing saga revolving around the sexual harassment claims against Darryl Ian Koshy — better known as Dee Kosh — one of his closest collaborators has publicly weighed in on the matter. 

Ben Tang, a 26-year-old influencer managed by Dee Kosh, has made regular appearances on the latter’s YouTube videos for nearly six years. Now with over 124,000 followers on his Instagram page, Tang has his 32-year-old manager and mentor to thank for his current status as a known social media personality. 

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Nonetheless, Tang took to Instagram on Wednesday (Aug 19) to express his disappointment over the allegations against Dee Kosh that have emerged recently — serious accusations that have warranted a police investigation. 

Several Instagram and Twitter users had publicly alleged that they, or their acquaintances, had been approached online and sexually harassed by Dee Kosh. The alleged victims were between 15 and 17 years of age at the time of the purported harassment.

“With everything that has been going on right now, I would like to say that I did not get paid by Dee for any sexual favours nor have I ever had any sexual relationship with him,” Tang affirmed, stating that everything between them has been “strictly professional” since they started working together. 

Tang’s statement arrived just after a picture started circulating on social media — a collage of images depicting himself and a wigged Dee Kosh in highly intimate poses. A few featured the younger man with his shirt off. 

In a statement addressing the allegations on Monday, Dee Kosh asserted that he has never used his talent management business as a platform for anything else other than content creation and entertainment. 

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Tang has since clarified that the pictures in subject were staged, photoshopped and of consensual nature. 

“There are pictures circulating online with me and Dee Kosh’s character Xiaotina in various stages of staged intimacy,” he wrote.

“They were part of a fictional narrative in an ongoing plot involving Xiaotina. Surely viewers of Dee Kosh would know this.”

Tang also revealed that since the allegations surfaced, he and the rest of his fellow talents under Dee Kosh have been the target of hate as well as personal inappropriate comments and insults. 

“All in all I hope you can give me and the rest of the talents on his channel privacy to deal with this,” he concluded. 

“I am definitely disappointed and do not condone his action, I shall not say more”. 

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As the case continues to gain momentum each day, other local companies and influencers have stated their stances on the issue. Night Owl Cinematics (NOC), the YouTube channel that frequently features Dee Kosh, has already placed all outstanding projects with the influencer on hold indefinitely. 

On top of that, NOC also completed a company-wide internal investigation and confirmed that Dee Kosh has not made any sexual advances towards any of its staff. 

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On his part, Dee Kosh issued a public apology to all those affected by his actions but did not provide further clarifications on what exactly he did. Fellow influencer and DJ Jade Rasif has since publicly questioned Dee Kosh on what she saw as holes in his statement.  

ilyas@asiaone.com