Park Sung-hoon lost the 'Tyrant's Chef' lead over a deleted Story post

Park Sung-hoon was one of Korean television's busiest leading men — the villain of 'The Glory', and fresh from a role in 'Squid Game' season two, which had premiered on Netflix that same week. Studio Dragon had cast him as the male lead beside Girls' Generation's Yoona in its next tvN drama, 'The Tyrant's Chef'. On December 30, 2024, an explicit parody image from a Japanese adult series appeared on his Instagram Story and vanished moments later — posted, his agency would say, during a national mourning period.

His agency, BH Entertainment, explained the post the next day: his inbox had flooded with direct messages, he mistapped while trying to forward the image to his manager, and he deleted it at once, sorry for 'such a mistake during a nationwide period of mourning'. On January 8 he apologised in tears at a press event for 'Squid Game' season two, saying the drama was 'a work made through the hard work of so many people' and that he was sorry for dragging it down. Online, calls were already mounting for him to leave his next drama.

On January 11, twelve days after the post, Studio Dragon confirmed he was out: 'after much discussion, the production team and actor Park Sung-hoon's side have decided that it will be difficult to work together on this project'. The recast jolted the whole schedule — the script reading was postponed, and the replacement, Lee Chae-min, began filming a month after the exit, about three weeks behind his co-star.

Studio Dragon recast him twelve days after the post, before any scenes were filmed, so the swap only delayed the schedule by about three weeks.

Nothing of his had been filmed yet, so the recalculation was cheap: Studio Dragon could still swap its male lead for the cost of a postponed schedule

The timing turned a mistap into a judgment call — the image appeared during a national mourning period, and the apology had to address that before anything else

His value to the production was a clean name carrying a prestige drama; the post attached itself to both the 'Squid Game' press tour and the new show at once

Studio Dragon cut Park Sung-hoon twelve days after the post, before any of his scenes existed. When a lead's value is a clean name, the window to save him is measured in days.

Studio Dragon said both sides 'decided to continue on their respective paths'. The production absorbed the disruption: the script reading was rescheduled, Lee Chae-min took the role, and 'The Tyrant's Chef' went ahead for its planned second-half 2025 broadcast with the replacement lead, whose first filming came a month after the exit. Park Sung-hoon kept apologising through the 'Squid Game' press tour — but the lead role he had been cast for aired with someone else in it.