More brands distance from Dee Kosh in light of sexual allegations

The Dee Kosh saga, which saw Youtube influencer Darryl Ian Koshy (also known as Dee Kosh) embroiled in sexual harassment allegations, has been the talk of the town in Singapore. Following radio station POWER98's move to distance themselves from the influencer who also hosts its "Up All Night" segment, more brands have taken a similar stance.

In a statement to Marketing, KFC said the company does not have any ongoing partnership with Koshy and the recent engagement with him in July was a one-off arrangement. The collaboration saw Koshy promoting "International Fried Chicken Day", which encouraged the public to order a chicken bucket to join him and other influencers in a virtual eat-together event on 6 July.

Similarly, gaming company PVP Esports told Marketing that it does not have any "long-term relationship" with Koshy. When asked about the three promotional posts on his Instagram account, a spokesperson said the company had engaged Koshy for some esports activities in the past but currently has no engagement with Koshy and does not tolerate harassment of any sort. Yesterday, a Lenovo's spokesperson echoed a similar statement, clarifying that the promotional ads that can be seen on his Instagram account were of an ad-hoc partnership.

Meanwhile, in a conversation with Marketing, a spokesperson from Subway said the brand has never had a partnership with Koshy. With regards to a promotional ad in May that Koshy posted on his Instagram page which tagged Subway, the spokesperson said it is not part of a paid partnership.

Besides KFC, PVP Esports and Subway, Koshy is also seen promoting other brands such as Huawei, Shopee, PRISM+ on his social channels. Marketing has reached out to these brands for a statement.

Koshy came under fire over last weekend as multiple people accused him of sexual harassment. The claims include that Koshy was sexually grooming minors, paying for sex, as well as misusing his talent management business. Koshy has since published a public apology on his social media channels stating that he would assume partial responsibility of the incident, but denied that he has ever have any sexual relations with any minor. This however did not appease netizens who were still unhappy about the issue even after Koshy's apology. According to data by Truescope, majority of netizens' sentiments remained negative after the apology. Some netizens have also commented on POWER 98 placing Koshy on leave and debated if he will get "cancelled" on his social platforms. However, there are also a few netizens who continued showing support both before and after the apology was published.

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Radio station POWER 98 distances from Dee Kosh after sexual allegations