Radio station POWER 98 distances from Dee Kosh after sexual allegations

Local radio station POWER 98 has distanced itself from its part-time DJ Darryl Ian Koshy, who is better known as Dee Kosh. This comes after Koshy, a well-known YouTube influencer, was accused of sexual harassment. The claims include that Koshy was sexually grooming minors, paying for sex, as well as misusing his talent management business. In a statement to Marketing, POWER 98 said Koshy is engaged as a part-time DJ and is currently on leave. It also added that the radio station does not tolerate any form of harassment.

Meanwhile Lenovo, which saw its products was promoted through Koshy's Instagram page, told Marketing that the brand does not have any current partnership with Koshy. It did, however, had an ad-hoc partnership in June and July, which saw Koshy promoting its products IdeaPad, ThinkView, and ThinkPad. Some other brands that Koshy mentioned on his Instagram page include KFC Singapore, PVP esports, and Team Wang Design. The brands did not respond to Marketing's queries at the time of writing.

According to media intelligence platform Truescope Singapore, since the allegations surfaced over the past weekend, there has been over 2000 comments on the issue across 21 social channels. Of which, half came from Twitter, followed by the Heartlanders Facebook page and the forum Reddit. The discussions of the issue are said to be around whether the allegations were true, comparison with a previous sexual scandal by another YouTube influencer Eden Ang, as well as potential repercussions if Koshy is found guilty.

Since the incident, Koshy has released an apology on his social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). In his apology, Koshy said even though he had put out on an earlier statement on his Insta-story denying allegations which had surfaced initially, he now admits that there is truth to some of the things which are being said.

"I am sorry to the people I have hurt in the process," he added. However he also said that some of the allegations were "baseless" and "untrue". Koshy further clarified that he has not misused his talent management business. According to him, it is a platform only for content creation, entertainment, and working with clients. He also added that he did not ever have any sexual relations with any minor, nor did he look for paid sex on dating apps. Marketing has reached out to Koshy for a statement.

Netizens 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.

Related Articles:
Clicknetwork TV drops Xiaxue as host for new show, gets mixed netizen response
Interview: Xiaxue responds as netizens pressure brands to ‘reconsider’ engagement
Analysis: Marketing 101 to surviving ‘cancel culture’