March 31, 2022 • 33 mins
After the scandal, everyone thought Tablo had won. But by then it was too late. The conspiracy would change his family forever.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
At some point you decided you were going to make
an album. Yeah, what what kind of headspace were you
in when you even started writing. I just needed to
do something to like not think about these things. I
didn't even know I was doing it. I was just
writing stuff down and then I started making some beats.
The album came out and did well tag and Contnspoma.
(00:35):
I remember people were saying that this is proof that
Tableau didn't really need those degrees to become uh this
this renowned musician. I think in some of the reviews,
I think that there was sort of this this narrative
that Ah Tableau has surmounted and overcome these issues, you know,
(00:58):
these attacks. He's one, He's back our triumph art trying
to the power of music. Tablow has overcome and paining
creates the most beautiful art. I heard that a lot.
They did proclaim it as like a triumphant moment. At
this point, I wasn't like completely all there. It's just
a weird feeling, you know, you know, like whole like
(01:19):
suffering creates the best art, and it made me think
that it's not worth it. Art's not worth that much suffering,
So like for it to be a comeback really just
wasn't It wasn't anna come back yet. When Tableau's solo album,
Fever's End came out in November of two thou eleven,
(01:41):
music magazines were praising the record, which he deserved. This
was some of Tableau's best work ever, and in general,
the press was marveling and how he'd overcome this difficult
time in his life. But Tableau wasn't paying attention to
any of that. He was more focused on getting past
the damage that Tajose campaign had done to his personal life.
(02:04):
It would be a while, but Tableau would eventually realize
that Tad had not only altered his life, but his
family's lives forever. At the same time, when the press
declared his triumphant comeback, when he was finally free from
the accusations and the rumors and free to be the
artist the Tableau that everyone now finally believed that he was,
(02:25):
that he experienced the worst year of his life. Feena
fip HOPI tipp what the signs my name? Whenever I
(02:46):
can run, I can keep writing there my books on
the Worst Tame the Mark Yeah Boo from Vice and
I Heart I'm Dexa Thomas and This is Authentic Episode seven. Family.
(03:15):
In July of two thousand eleven, a journalist named Joshua
Davis flew from the US to South Korea to write
a story about the Tajan No scandal for Wired magazine.
He had already done one article for another magazine, and
he wanted to do a more in depth piece that
would include an interview with Tableau himself. Some of the
most disturbing details from that article aren't from quotes from
(03:37):
the interviews, it's from the descriptions. The first time he
meets Tableau, the reporter describes him as looking quote crazed.
He says that Tableau was holding a cigarette, but he
never lit it and his eyes kept darting nervously across
the room. In the second interview with Tableau, the journalist
brought up something during his reporting. He'd spoken to some
(03:59):
Tajeno members, and these members told them that their basis
for believing the rumors, the credibility came from someone who
was close to Tableau. How did you feel knowing that
there are family members, Howard Distant who were being implicated
in these attacks against you. To tell you the truth,
I wasn't surprised you weren't surprised. Yeah, I wasn't surprised
(04:22):
because you know, like I didn't get to choose my relatives.
They didn't get to choose me. Right. This wasn't the
first time Tableau had heard this. During the police interrogation.
Almost a year prior to that, the police had brought
up a name that he recognized, Sam Cho, Who's a
cousin that I actually know and uh I went to
(04:47):
Stanford with apparently was writing things about me. Sam Cho
was the cousin Tableau had lunch with when he got
to Stanford, And the first thing he said to me,
how did you get into Stafford? Really? Yea? I was like,
all right, Sam, let's just see. After he graduated, Tableau
(05:09):
says he didn't really think much about his cousin Sam
until Sam's name came up in connection with Tajano. So
I have to take a couple of steps back here
to give you the backstory on why Sam's name ever
came up in the first place. It actually involves another scandal,
this time involving Tableau's brother and a comedy show. See
(05:32):
back in two thousand nine, there was this game show
on Korean TV called Infinite Challenge It had an episode
where the contestants went to New York and complete challenges,
but they had to do it in English. Yeah, I'm
gonna cut well, I don't number one. At the time,
(05:53):
Tabloo's brother David was a host of another TV show.
This was an educational show where he taught English, and
what David saw on Infinity Challenge really set him off.
It looked to him like the contestants were pretending to
be bad at English and playing it all up for laughs.
David was an educator and so even though this was
(06:14):
a comedy show, he didn't like the image of smart
Koreans playing dumb. So on November twenty one, two thousand nine,
he decided to write a post about it on his
blog Are you Fucking Serious? That is the one line
that he wrote in English. It's really long, so we'll
just kind of cover the main points and we'll have
(06:35):
someone else read it. Am I the only one who
thinks this? Or did those white boys make him into
a complete fool? I wonder what those white boys were thinking. Actually,
never mind, even if they said it out loud, the
Koreans wouldn't have understood. Perhaps they thought, what are these
fucking retards doing. I know you're being real for entertainment,
but keep the local comedy in Korea please. Okay, since
(06:56):
when was it so humiliating to be a part of
the Korean race. David's blog post spread like wildfire. People
were pissed. First, there's the obvious, the vulgar language he used.
Not only is this not cool as a member of
a major broadcasting network, but most people knew him from
(07:17):
his TV appearances as this mild mannered teacher. I mean,
it was almost like watching Mr Rogers drop the F bomb.
It was shocking. But there's also the fact that he
was Tablow's brother. This was back when Tableau was at
the height of his fame. He was getting engaged and
preparing to have a baby. He and his family were
(07:38):
in the spotlight, and everyone gave off the impression of
a respectable, high achieving family, and that foul language rant
was far from what one would expect from that kind
of model family. David did end up apologizing, but the
damage had been done. This had all cast a shadow
over the public image of Tableau's family, which brings us
(08:01):
back to Sam Cho the controversy about David's blog. As
you can Imagine was making some waves in the news,
and on one of the articles on the website of
a major newspaper, Sam cho posted a comment. But even
though the article itself was about David, Sam was writing
about Tableau. You could only get into a good school
because of your cousin's recommendation. Sole International School knows it,
(08:25):
but they politely pretended that they didn't notice. Sole International
is the high school that Sam and Tableau both went
to in Korea. Sam is saying that Tableau wouldn't even
have gotten into such a prestigious university like Stanford if
it weren't for Sam himself recommending him, so he deserves
credit for that part of Tableau's early success. You are
not a top student at Stanford. You didn't even have
(08:48):
a high i Q, and you absolutely didn't get good
grades in high school. Everyone who studied at Stanford knows
that you took so called creative writing courses so you
can more easily get higher grades. It's not possible to
trace every comment that Sam ever wrote online about Tableau,
because it's been so long that some of those original
articles might not exist anymore. But what we know for
(09:10):
sure is that before Tajanio ever started, Sam was regularly
writing comments and articles, not just articles about David, but
even in generic news articles about Tableau. So I have
to be clear here. We have seen absolutely no evidence
that sam Cho was ever part of the Tajano Forum,
and as a matter of fact, he publicly distanced himself
(09:32):
from them. When Tagano started, sam Cho wrote a post
on his blog and clarified that he did believe that
Tableau had graduated from Stanford, but he added that he
had doubts about Tableau being a so called genius. And
even though sam rejected their claims, TA Janio found that
last part very interesting and useful. Sam Cho was constantly
(09:54):
being referenced by Tajano members. The writer of the Wired
article even interviewed some members who said, quote, even this
guy who claims he's his cousin called him a liar.
The truth is in the cousin's comments. I rely on
his statements in the court of Tajano opinion. Sam was
a valuable asset. Here was a guy who knew Tableau.
(10:17):
I mean their cousins, but it's not that straightforward. They
are family, but they were never close when I went
to Canada. Before then, I didn't even know they existed.
Sam's family had also immigrated to Canada around the same
(10:38):
time the Tableau's family moved there. It was pretty obvious,
like right from the beginning that there was absolutely no
way we could become close or become friends. We were
just two completely different people. The White Tableau describes it,
he and Sam hung out once. It sounds like one
of those hangouts that immigrant families orchestrate to build a
(10:59):
community to be in a new place. This can be
really helpful and important for the adults who have limited
chances to make new friends. For kids, though, it can
feel kind of forced. He was accomplished violinist, and uh,
you know they made him play like they're well, they
(11:20):
made him play on the spot, I think, so. Yeah,
he did a recital for everybody. It was awkward, honestly,
and then the parents were like, you know, we're gonna talk,
so you guys, you should go hang out in your
cousin's room. And I went, and I remember he was
playing a flight simulator like I think like German luftwaft
or something like that, like World War two flight simulator
(11:43):
kind of thing, and um, I was just sitting there
like watching him play that. Sam and his family moved
back to Korea a few years later, so when Tableau
went back to Seoul, Sam was already there, and so
he and Tableau found themselves at the same high school,
Sol International. And the strange thing is, you know, our
differences were even more visible by the time high school
(12:07):
rolled around, Like there was no even though he was
someone I had known kind of uh and sort of
related to me, Like, it was impossible for us to
have any interaction in school. And we also had to
cross paths, uh kind of in a way because of orchestra.
(12:28):
I also played the violin, right, so we were in orchestra.
But I was a horrible violin player, Like I was
just not a very good student, like in that way.
So I was third violent, which is pretty much you know,
just kind of just there. He was first violent, and
he was like intense about that too. If you had
(12:51):
to visibly like decide who was the more likely to
funk up, It's probably gonna be me. These two cousins
had very similar upbringings and they both moved back to
Korea again around the same time. They had similar talents
for music, and they went to the same prestigious high school,
which maybe isn't surprising. Tableau and Sam were operating in
(13:13):
the same immigrant ecosystem, with a pressure to succeed by
being talented. Going to the best schools and having access
to a Western education was seen as keys to success.
A lot of kids probably had similar experiences, which, now,
if you're putting the pieces together, Uh, it's it's almost scary.
How like there's a parallel here. I did not know
(13:36):
these parallels existed. Like other things happened, and you know,
time went on, there are other things to think about.
I was living my life. Sam and Tableau's relationship honestly
doesn't sound all that unique. I mean, this is why
comedians are always making jokes about having to see relatives
you don't like during Thanksgiving, or watching your family post
(13:57):
and wild racist memes on Facebook. Just because your cousins
doesn't mean that you're destined to be friends. But when
the conspiracy theories started winding up, nobody knew about that dynamic.
All that anyone on Tadano saw was Tableau's own cousin
questioning his intelligence. That's all the context they needed or wanted.
(14:19):
And again, when Sam saw what Tajo was posting, he
wrote on his blog that they were wrong that Tableau
did graduate from Stanford, but it was too late. A
lot of people in taj you know, they were really
going off of, well, his cousin is saying these things,
because it's like, how bad much this Tableau or just
Daniel guy b if his own cousin's saying this. One
(14:45):
user wrote, the Tableau controversy would not have intensified and
grown so much if you have not spoken out against Tableau.
Even if these kinds of rumors were already out there,
they became firm because of Mr Joe. When we first
(15:07):
reached out to Sam to ask him about these comments
and his interactions with Tableau, he didn't respond. I could
see why a lot of people have kind of painted
Sam as being one of the reasons that Tidano started off,
when that's not really accurate. But now that ten years
(15:28):
have passed, I wonder what Sam thought about all this,
not just about Tableau, but about the bigger picture of
what this all meant. So we kept trying to contact him.
Finally he responded, m Hi, Stephanie, this is Sam. It
(16:20):
seems you reached out to me several times to hear
my side of this story on Daniel Lee's Tableau's scandal
in South Korea about a decade ago. We wanted to
see if Sam remembered all the interactions that Tablood told
us about. Sam told us that he does remember their
families hanging out in Canada, but he says they got
together more than once. He also says that they had
(16:40):
first met in the eighties, back in Korea, when Tableau
was just a little kid who was into G I. Joe's.
He also recalls the relationship at Stanford very differently. Remember
the lunch that Tableau told us about where Sam rudely
asked how he even got into Stanford. Well, Sam says
he would never say anything like that, and he actually
(17:02):
remembers hanging out with Tableau several times during college. I
wanted to interview Sam like I've interviewed everyone else. He
said no, but he did send us an email, and
he agreed to let us have a voice act or
read his letter as long as we didn't change anything.
So here's what he had to say. I don't want
to get too involved in what seems to be Daniel's
(17:22):
old personal troubles, but since there were quite a few
misconceptions and false rumors, I will clarify some serious factual
distortions and misunderstandings through this opportunity for the benefit of
the public. He starts out by talking about Tableau's TV appearances.
The false storytelling by Daniel Lee about himself and his
self aggrandizing behaviors was persistent for many years, and the
(17:45):
Korean audience began to doubt his overall credibility, and he
gives some examples of what he calls Tableau's exaggerations. Dan's
major in English and Creative Writing at Stanford was largely
self designed with massive, great inflationary characteristics compared to more quantitative,
stem oriented majors at Stanford. Sam says that because of this,
(18:06):
Tableau didn't accurately reflect what one would expect of real
academic success at a prestigious school like Stanford. In my opinion,
the patternley false yet viral rumor that Daniel Lee was
not a Stanford graduate was a culmination of the ever
growing public doubt on Daniel's past based on his dubious
and not so credible storytelling behaviors over TV and radio
(18:28):
broadcasts in Korea. So I have to say here that
we have extensively fact checked Table's credentials, and we haven't
found anything that is dubious. But in any case, Sam
stressed that he never had anything to do with Tajanio.
I have nothing to do with Tableau's anti fans and
anti fan side creations in Korea. I did not start it,
(18:50):
I did not participate in it. I was never an
anti Tableau fan member. In fact, Sam made it clear
that he doesn't see his comments at fault in feeding
the conspiracy. Remember he publicly said that he believed Tableau
went to Stanford. Sam thinks there's something else at play
when people bring up those old comments he posted back
in two thousand nine. Ultimately, I think Daniel Lee and
(19:12):
his fan base wanted a convenient scape yards living far
outside of their social networks to blame because in their
disorted minds, Dan Lee's victim play is more effective that way.
When I was in Korea, I read a few parts
of Sam's letter to Tableau to see what he thought
about it. More or less closed by saying, at this
time of my life, I simply regard Daniel Lee as
(19:34):
a boy who cried wolf when the wolves came down
and imperiled him on his academic pedigree. Many people in
Korea chose not to believe him anymore because his past
storytelling was not credible. He's probably playing victim to this day.
But it is my sincere belief that the entire credibility
trouble for Daniel is his own doing and serves as
a modern lesson of Aesop's fable for some people. And
(19:57):
in the case, I hope that he's learned of valuable
lesson and wish him all the best. I didn't cry wolf.
They they sent the wolves, you know, they intentionally sent
wolves after me, and then as I was being eaten alive,
(20:19):
they told themselves that I'm the one who cried wolf,
so that they feel less guilty about it. It's unfortunate
that he thinks that, um, but not surprising honestly, because
that was the narrative from the get go. And this
is discounting the fact that I did defend myself. They
(20:41):
just didn't accept it. I just I just want to
say that it strikes me that over the last days
of talking to you, this is our producer Kate and
talking and like the center of the scandal being about education,
and you spending days talking to us about the intense
educational pressure or that you were under that. Clearly Samuel
(21:03):
Cho was also under, as was generations of Korean children.
To be honest, what it feels like to me is
like a primal scream from an entire society of people
who don't know what to do with this pressure. Yea,
you know the fact that we we went to so
(21:24):
many like you know, we crossed paths with these schools,
the same high school, same college, um, but the way
we did it was so different. Like I really feel
like he was I don't know if you put it
on himself or if his parents forced it on him,
but I believe that he was um, like he was
applied in intense pressure to achieve. Today, Sam says he
(21:51):
doesn't really think much about the scandal. He sees himself
basically just as a bystander or as an observer whose
comments got taken out of content. Next, he still believes
that Tableau's own actions and his brother David's comments kind
of primed the pump for this whole conspiracy. He actually
seemed to be a little offended at the idea that
his comments had anything to do with the way that
(22:13):
things escalated the way they did. I find it interesting
that some people think that I should have refrained from
such comments. Why I don't yet live under a tutalitarian
regime here in the United States. It is an American tradition,
let alone the legal right to protect, respect, or even
celebrate the well informed, intellectual opinions of people. Needless to say,
(22:36):
I'm a super happy citizen of the United States and
have been for over twenty years. I have never lived
in South Korea since my freshman year at Stanford in
seven on a permanent basis, So I should say here
that we weren't able to reach Tableau's brother, David Lee
to ask him about any of this, but our producer
did talk to Sam one final time over the phone,
(22:56):
just to see if he had any other thoughts. They
started talking about education and pressure again, and he didn't
say much about his own personal experience. But Sam did
say that he does think there is a heightened pressure
to succeed in Korea, and that's sort of one of
the only things that both he and Tableau seemed to
agree on. If you watch how I raised my daughter
(23:18):
like I am through showing through action what I didn't
like about it, I'm raising her in a different way,
and I don't really share it because there's no venue
for me to share it really, and it's just my
private matter. But funny thing, my daughter said to me, Hey, Daddy,
is Stanford really nice? She asked me. She's eleven, right,
(23:44):
And I think she said this because her cousin was
told by someone that you know, maybe like you, you
should grow up in go to Stanford and mentioned it
to how do And I guess how do it because
she talked mommy and Mommy's like, oh, that's the school dad,
daddy went to. So how do? Came and asked me,
(24:06):
And in my heart, I'm like, that's like not what
I demand of you or expect of you, Like I
want you to do your thing. And I was like,
why do you want to go to Stanford? And she
said because I heard there's a shopping center on campus.
And I was just put a smile on my face
right because thank god it was me. I was able
(24:28):
to come out kind of unscathed, if you discount like
these things happening to me. But I've had friends in
college that that weren't able to make it out alive.
(24:50):
Tablo says he came out kind of unscathed, but after
spending days with him to close to twenty hours of interviews.
I gotta say I think he might be overestimating himself here.
Tableau was under incredible pressure to succeed, and to his credit,
he absolutely met his parents expectations for his childhood, a
(25:12):
Western education in elite high school, a prestigious college. Now,
when he graduated, he decided to take another path. His
parents hated this and continually told him that he was
screwing up. But he did it anyway, and he proved
that he was right. But then again, the demands that
his parents put on him helped his career, so in
(25:34):
a way they were right too. That pressure, both internal
and external, that unresolved conflict. It turned him into who
he is today, but it also left him with a
lot of scars and a lot of doubts, especially when
it comes to his family. When I see my friends
or you know, things, see the things that they've accomplished,
(25:58):
UM sometimes have like, you know that that may have
been the safer path that my parents wanted. And if
I had taken that path, regardless of whether or not
I would have enjoyed it, Um, none of what happened
to my family would have happened. Quite possibly, my dad
would still be alive. You really think that, Yeah, I
(26:21):
genuinely think that that this killed my dad. He had
liver cancer when I was in college. He fought it
for a long time and then he got okay. Tablow's
father had been doing great. The family considered it a miracle,
no relapse, no signs of sickness. But then suddenly he
(26:43):
got sick, really sick. And this was like already about
a year into this like heavy, which was like it
was like three sixty five days of seeing um, your
kid's name like in the new is also the entire
family like my brother and my sister, like everyone, uh,
(27:06):
and my mom too, like his wife, right like that
that must have been like really something like something he
you know, and at least I understood the internet like
he you know, this was something like completely new to him,
being like maligned m for the public to see. Right
in March of Tabloo's father was rushed to the hospital.
(27:31):
Tabloo said he remembers going to the hospital just trying
to focus on being there for his dad. But at
the time, the Tajo trial was one of the biggest
news headlines in the country, so the hospital's TVs were
constantly tuned into it. As he was sitting there by
his father's bedside, you could hear the news on the
(27:51):
TVs in the background giving updates on the trial of
the eleven people who were being prosecuted for defaming his family.
Even in the hospital, Tabloo's family couldn't escape it. And
then Tablow told me that within days of being admitted
to the hospital, as the case was still ongoing, Tabloo's
(28:14):
father passed away. It was supposed to be like a
moment of triumph, but my dad never got to see it,
and it was like just a surreal moment where they
were right, you know in a way, Yeah that even
(28:38):
if I do overcome this, uh, it wouldn't change a thing. Yeah,
it is not easy for me to deal with. And
what's worse is that, uh, you know, in a way,
my parents, well, my parents were right because eventually, you know,
(29:00):
it led to you know, my my dad just like
being in the ICU and me like spending you know,
days at the hospital and just watching him die. One
thing that I do carry as weight is um. You know,
people die of cancer, they die of UM, COVID, they
(29:25):
die of like something or old age. My dad died
of this and I don't even know what this is. Ah,
they killed them, I'm sure of that. M so like
(29:50):
that I carry and anybody that's sort of involved in this, like,
you know, I want to free, give and forget, but
I'm also like remembering that they killed my dad. If
it occurs to me every once in a while, and
(30:10):
I'm like, man, I I funked it up for everyone.
If that occurs to me, I think they possibly could
blame me, And that's that's fine. You know, what can
I do? It's partially true, right if I wasn't in
the public eye, none of that would have happened. What
(30:31):
do they blame me for? Do you think I think?
I think my mom still thinks that I should have
taken the safe road, and if I had, my dad
would still be here, her husband would still be there.
Anyone you talked to who knows Tablet personally will say
(30:51):
the same thing. The Tabloos father's death it was a
direct result of Tadano. Even the court documents of firm
that quote this case significantly affected his health, and so
the country that was once skeptical of Tableau started to
feel sorry for him. When it was announced that Tableau's
(31:13):
father had passed. The media, including some of the very
same outlets that had published articles that fed tiging those attention,
showed up to the funeral. They were waiting outside. You know.
It was like I was like walking on the red
carpet or something, you know. M I just wanted to like,
it was pretty fucked up for them to be there.
(31:35):
I mean, I understand that they weren't there to like
give me a hard time. They just they were just
doing their job. But even that was being broadcast, which
I thought would be which I thought it was kind
of odd, Like I would not want to watch somebody
(31:55):
makes no sense. I wouldn't want to watch somebody carry
out their dad. So sorry, Yes, I'm sorry. I'm fine.
(32:23):
I just haven't had to think about it in a while.
It's pretty fun. Up next time. Unauthentic the final episode.
(32:46):
Authentic is a production of Vice Audio and I Heart
Podcast Network, produced and reported by Stephanie Karayuki, Minji Coo,
Hate Osborne, and myself with Janet Lee, Stephanie Brown, and
Sam Egan. Sound design and original music composition by Kyle Murdoch,
with additional support from Natasha Jacobs. Our Supervising producer is
(33:08):
Janet Lee, editing from Lazy Roberts, fact checking by Minji
Ku and Nikole Pasuka. This episode features music from Epic
High from their album Fever's End, distributed by YG Entertainment.
Thanks also to our voice actor Daniel kim Our. Executive
producer and VP A Vice audio is Kate Osborne from
I Heart Podcast Network. Executive producers Nikki E. Tor and
(33:32):
Lindsay Hoffman. I'm XR Thomas. Make sure to subscribe wherever
you get your podcast so you don't miss an episode
At some point you decided you were going to make
an album. Yeah, what what kind of headspace were you
in when you even started writing. I just needed to
do something to like not think about these things. I
didn't even know I was doing it. I was just
writing stuff down and then I started making some beats.
The album came out and did well tag and Contnspoma.
(00:35):
I remember people were saying that this is proof that
Tableau didn't really need those degrees to become uh this
this renowned musician. I think in some of the reviews,
I think that there was sort of this this narrative
that Ah Tableau has surmounted and overcome these issues, you know,
(00:58):
these attacks. He's one, He's back our triumph art trying
to the power of music. Tablow has overcome and paining
creates the most beautiful art. I heard that a lot.
They did proclaim it as like a triumphant moment. At
this point, I wasn't like completely all there. It's just
a weird feeling, you know, you know, like whole like
(01:19):
suffering creates the best art, and it made me think
that it's not worth it. Art's not worth that much suffering,
So like for it to be a comeback really just
wasn't It wasn't anna come back yet. When Tableau's solo album,
Fever's End came out in November of two thou eleven,
(01:41):
music magazines were praising the record, which he deserved. This
was some of Tableau's best work ever, and in general,
the press was marveling and how he'd overcome this difficult
time in his life. But Tableau wasn't paying attention to
any of that. He was more focused on getting past
the damage that Tajose campaign had done to his personal life.
(02:04):
It would be a while, but Tableau would eventually realize
that Tad had not only altered his life, but his
family's lives forever. At the same time, when the press
declared his triumphant comeback, when he was finally free from
the accusations and the rumors and free to be the
artist the Tableau that everyone now finally believed that he was,
(02:25):
that he experienced the worst year of his life. Feena
fip HOPI tipp what the signs my name? Whenever I
(02:46):
can run, I can keep writing there my books on
the Worst Tame the Mark Yeah Boo from Vice and
I Heart I'm Dexa Thomas and This is Authentic Episode seven. Family.
(03:15):
In July of two thousand eleven, a journalist named Joshua
Davis flew from the US to South Korea to write
a story about the Tajan No scandal for Wired magazine.
He had already done one article for another magazine, and
he wanted to do a more in depth piece that
would include an interview with Tableau himself. Some of the
most disturbing details from that article aren't from quotes from
(03:37):
the interviews, it's from the descriptions. The first time he
meets Tableau, the reporter describes him as looking quote crazed.
He says that Tableau was holding a cigarette, but he
never lit it and his eyes kept darting nervously across
the room. In the second interview with Tableau, the journalist
brought up something during his reporting. He'd spoken to some
(03:59):
Tajeno members, and these members told them that their basis
for believing the rumors, the credibility came from someone who
was close to Tableau. How did you feel knowing that
there are family members, Howard Distant who were being implicated
in these attacks against you. To tell you the truth,
I wasn't surprised you weren't surprised. Yeah, I wasn't surprised
(04:22):
because you know, like I didn't get to choose my relatives.
They didn't get to choose me. Right. This wasn't the
first time Tableau had heard this. During the police interrogation.
Almost a year prior to that, the police had brought
up a name that he recognized, Sam Cho, Who's a
cousin that I actually know and uh I went to
(04:47):
Stanford with apparently was writing things about me. Sam Cho
was the cousin Tableau had lunch with when he got
to Stanford, And the first thing he said to me,
how did you get into Stafford? Really? Yea? I was like,
all right, Sam, let's just see. After he graduated, Tableau
(05:09):
says he didn't really think much about his cousin Sam
until Sam's name came up in connection with Tajano. So
I have to take a couple of steps back here
to give you the backstory on why Sam's name ever
came up in the first place. It actually involves another scandal,
this time involving Tableau's brother and a comedy show. See
(05:32):
back in two thousand nine, there was this game show
on Korean TV called Infinite Challenge It had an episode
where the contestants went to New York and complete challenges,
but they had to do it in English. Yeah, I'm
gonna cut well, I don't number one. At the time,
(05:53):
Tabloo's brother David was a host of another TV show.
This was an educational show where he taught English, and
what David saw on Infinity Challenge really set him off.
It looked to him like the contestants were pretending to
be bad at English and playing it all up for laughs.
David was an educator and so even though this was
(06:14):
a comedy show, he didn't like the image of smart
Koreans playing dumb. So on November twenty one, two thousand nine,
he decided to write a post about it on his
blog Are you Fucking Serious? That is the one line
that he wrote in English. It's really long, so we'll
just kind of cover the main points and we'll have
(06:35):
someone else read it. Am I the only one who
thinks this? Or did those white boys make him into
a complete fool? I wonder what those white boys were thinking. Actually,
never mind, even if they said it out loud, the
Koreans wouldn't have understood. Perhaps they thought, what are these
fucking retards doing. I know you're being real for entertainment,
but keep the local comedy in Korea please. Okay, since
(06:56):
when was it so humiliating to be a part of
the Korean race. David's blog post spread like wildfire. People
were pissed. First, there's the obvious, the vulgar language he used.
Not only is this not cool as a member of
a major broadcasting network, but most people knew him from
(07:17):
his TV appearances as this mild mannered teacher. I mean,
it was almost like watching Mr Rogers drop the F bomb.
It was shocking. But there's also the fact that he
was Tablow's brother. This was back when Tableau was at
the height of his fame. He was getting engaged and
preparing to have a baby. He and his family were
(07:38):
in the spotlight, and everyone gave off the impression of
a respectable, high achieving family, and that foul language rant
was far from what one would expect from that kind
of model family. David did end up apologizing, but the
damage had been done. This had all cast a shadow
over the public image of Tableau's family, which brings us
(08:01):
back to Sam Cho the controversy about David's blog. As
you can Imagine was making some waves in the news,
and on one of the articles on the website of
a major newspaper, Sam cho posted a comment. But even
though the article itself was about David, Sam was writing
about Tableau. You could only get into a good school
because of your cousin's recommendation. Sole International School knows it,
(08:25):
but they politely pretended that they didn't notice. Sole International
is the high school that Sam and Tableau both went
to in Korea. Sam is saying that Tableau wouldn't even
have gotten into such a prestigious university like Stanford if
it weren't for Sam himself recommending him, so he deserves
credit for that part of Tableau's early success. You are
not a top student at Stanford. You didn't even have
(08:48):
a high i Q, and you absolutely didn't get good
grades in high school. Everyone who studied at Stanford knows
that you took so called creative writing courses so you
can more easily get higher grades. It's not possible to
trace every comment that Sam ever wrote online about Tableau,
because it's been so long that some of those original
articles might not exist anymore. But what we know for
(09:10):
sure is that before Tajanio ever started, Sam was regularly
writing comments and articles, not just articles about David, but
even in generic news articles about Tableau. So I have
to be clear here. We have seen absolutely no evidence
that sam Cho was ever part of the Tajano Forum,
and as a matter of fact, he publicly distanced himself
(09:32):
from them. When Tagano started, sam Cho wrote a post
on his blog and clarified that he did believe that
Tableau had graduated from Stanford, but he added that he
had doubts about Tableau being a so called genius. And
even though sam rejected their claims, TA Janio found that
last part very interesting and useful. Sam Cho was constantly
(09:54):
being referenced by Tajano members. The writer of the Wired
article even interviewed some members who said, quote, even this
guy who claims he's his cousin called him a liar.
The truth is in the cousin's comments. I rely on
his statements in the court of Tajano opinion. Sam was
a valuable asset. Here was a guy who knew Tableau.
(10:17):
I mean their cousins, but it's not that straightforward. They
are family, but they were never close when I went
to Canada. Before then, I didn't even know they existed.
Sam's family had also immigrated to Canada around the same
(10:38):
time the Tableau's family moved there. It was pretty obvious,
like right from the beginning that there was absolutely no
way we could become close or become friends. We were
just two completely different people. The White Tableau describes it,
he and Sam hung out once. It sounds like one
of those hangouts that immigrant families orchestrate to build a
(10:59):
community to be in a new place. This can be
really helpful and important for the adults who have limited
chances to make new friends. For kids, though, it can
feel kind of forced. He was accomplished violinist, and uh,
you know they made him play like they're well, they
(11:20):
made him play on the spot, I think, so. Yeah,
he did a recital for everybody. It was awkward, honestly,
and then the parents were like, you know, we're gonna talk,
so you guys, you should go hang out in your
cousin's room. And I went, and I remember he was
playing a flight simulator like I think like German luftwaft
or something like that, like World War two flight simulator
(11:43):
kind of thing, and um, I was just sitting there
like watching him play that. Sam and his family moved
back to Korea a few years later, so when Tableau
went back to Seoul, Sam was already there, and so
he and Tableau found themselves at the same high school,
Sol International. And the strange thing is, you know, our
differences were even more visible by the time high school
(12:07):
rolled around, Like there was no even though he was
someone I had known kind of uh and sort of
related to me, Like, it was impossible for us to
have any interaction in school. And we also had to
cross paths, uh kind of in a way because of orchestra.
(12:28):
I also played the violin, right, so we were in orchestra.
But I was a horrible violin player, Like I was
just not a very good student, like in that way.
So I was third violent, which is pretty much you know,
just kind of just there. He was first violent, and
he was like intense about that too. If you had
(12:51):
to visibly like decide who was the more likely to
funk up, It's probably gonna be me. These two cousins
had very similar upbringings and they both moved back to
Korea again around the same time. They had similar talents
for music, and they went to the same prestigious high school,
which maybe isn't surprising. Tableau and Sam were operating in
(13:13):
the same immigrant ecosystem, with a pressure to succeed by
being talented. Going to the best schools and having access
to a Western education was seen as keys to success.
A lot of kids probably had similar experiences, which, now,
if you're putting the pieces together, Uh, it's it's almost scary.
How like there's a parallel here. I did not know
(13:36):
these parallels existed. Like other things happened, and you know,
time went on, there are other things to think about.
I was living my life. Sam and Tableau's relationship honestly
doesn't sound all that unique. I mean, this is why
comedians are always making jokes about having to see relatives
you don't like during Thanksgiving, or watching your family post
(13:57):
and wild racist memes on Facebook. Just because your cousins
doesn't mean that you're destined to be friends. But when
the conspiracy theories started winding up, nobody knew about that dynamic.
All that anyone on Tadano saw was Tableau's own cousin
questioning his intelligence. That's all the context they needed or wanted.
(14:19):
And again, when Sam saw what Tajo was posting, he
wrote on his blog that they were wrong that Tableau
did graduate from Stanford, but it was too late. A
lot of people in taj you know, they were really
going off of, well, his cousin is saying these things,
because it's like, how bad much this Tableau or just
Daniel guy b if his own cousin's saying this. One
(14:45):
user wrote, the Tableau controversy would not have intensified and
grown so much if you have not spoken out against Tableau.
Even if these kinds of rumors were already out there,
they became firm because of Mr Joe. When we first
(15:07):
reached out to Sam to ask him about these comments
and his interactions with Tableau, he didn't respond. I could
see why a lot of people have kind of painted
Sam as being one of the reasons that Tidano started off,
when that's not really accurate. But now that ten years
(15:28):
have passed, I wonder what Sam thought about all this,
not just about Tableau, but about the bigger picture of
what this all meant. So we kept trying to contact him.
Finally he responded, m Hi, Stephanie, this is Sam. It
(16:20):
seems you reached out to me several times to hear
my side of this story on Daniel Lee's Tableau's scandal
in South Korea about a decade ago. We wanted to
see if Sam remembered all the interactions that Tablood told
us about. Sam told us that he does remember their
families hanging out in Canada, but he says they got
together more than once. He also says that they had
(16:40):
first met in the eighties, back in Korea, when Tableau
was just a little kid who was into G I. Joe's.
He also recalls the relationship at Stanford very differently. Remember
the lunch that Tableau told us about where Sam rudely
asked how he even got into Stanford. Well, Sam says
he would never say anything like that, and he actually
(17:02):
remembers hanging out with Tableau several times during college. I
wanted to interview Sam like I've interviewed everyone else. He
said no, but he did send us an email, and
he agreed to let us have a voice act or
read his letter as long as we didn't change anything.
So here's what he had to say. I don't want
to get too involved in what seems to be Daniel's
(17:22):
old personal troubles, but since there were quite a few
misconceptions and false rumors, I will clarify some serious factual
distortions and misunderstandings through this opportunity for the benefit of
the public. He starts out by talking about Tableau's TV appearances.
The false storytelling by Daniel Lee about himself and his
self aggrandizing behaviors was persistent for many years, and the
(17:45):
Korean audience began to doubt his overall credibility, and he
gives some examples of what he calls Tableau's exaggerations. Dan's
major in English and Creative Writing at Stanford was largely
self designed with massive, great inflationary characteristics compared to more quantitative,
stem oriented majors at Stanford. Sam says that because of this,
(18:06):
Tableau didn't accurately reflect what one would expect of real
academic success at a prestigious school like Stanford. In my opinion,
the patternley false yet viral rumor that Daniel Lee was
not a Stanford graduate was a culmination of the ever
growing public doubt on Daniel's past based on his dubious
and not so credible storytelling behaviors over TV and radio
(18:28):
broadcasts in Korea. So I have to say here that
we have extensively fact checked Table's credentials, and we haven't
found anything that is dubious. But in any case, Sam
stressed that he never had anything to do with Tajanio.
I have nothing to do with Tableau's anti fans and
anti fan side creations in Korea. I did not start it,
(18:50):
I did not participate in it. I was never an
anti Tableau fan member. In fact, Sam made it clear
that he doesn't see his comments at fault in feeding
the conspiracy. Remember he publicly said that he believed Tableau
went to Stanford. Sam thinks there's something else at play
when people bring up those old comments he posted back
in two thousand nine. Ultimately, I think Daniel Lee and
(19:12):
his fan base wanted a convenient scape yards living far
outside of their social networks to blame because in their
disorted minds, Dan Lee's victim play is more effective that way.
When I was in Korea, I read a few parts
of Sam's letter to Tableau to see what he thought
about it. More or less closed by saying, at this
time of my life, I simply regard Daniel Lee as
(19:34):
a boy who cried wolf when the wolves came down
and imperiled him on his academic pedigree. Many people in
Korea chose not to believe him anymore because his past
storytelling was not credible. He's probably playing victim to this day.
But it is my sincere belief that the entire credibility
trouble for Daniel is his own doing and serves as
a modern lesson of Aesop's fable for some people. And
(19:57):
in the case, I hope that he's learned of valuable
lesson and wish him all the best. I didn't cry wolf.
They they sent the wolves, you know, they intentionally sent
wolves after me, and then as I was being eaten alive,
(20:19):
they told themselves that I'm the one who cried wolf,
so that they feel less guilty about it. It's unfortunate
that he thinks that, um, but not surprising honestly, because
that was the narrative from the get go. And this
is discounting the fact that I did defend myself. They
(20:41):
just didn't accept it. I just I just want to
say that it strikes me that over the last days
of talking to you, this is our producer Kate and
talking and like the center of the scandal being about education,
and you spending days talking to us about the intense
educational pressure or that you were under that. Clearly Samuel
(21:03):
Cho was also under, as was generations of Korean children.
To be honest, what it feels like to me is
like a primal scream from an entire society of people
who don't know what to do with this pressure. Yea,
you know the fact that we we went to so
(21:24):
many like you know, we crossed paths with these schools,
the same high school, same college, um, but the way
we did it was so different. Like I really feel
like he was I don't know if you put it
on himself or if his parents forced it on him,
but I believe that he was um, like he was
applied in intense pressure to achieve. Today, Sam says he
(21:51):
doesn't really think much about the scandal. He sees himself
basically just as a bystander or as an observer whose
comments got taken out of content. Next, he still believes
that Tableau's own actions and his brother David's comments kind
of primed the pump for this whole conspiracy. He actually
seemed to be a little offended at the idea that
his comments had anything to do with the way that
(22:13):
things escalated the way they did. I find it interesting
that some people think that I should have refrained from
such comments. Why I don't yet live under a tutalitarian
regime here in the United States. It is an American tradition,
let alone the legal right to protect, respect, or even
celebrate the well informed, intellectual opinions of people. Needless to say,
(22:36):
I'm a super happy citizen of the United States and
have been for over twenty years. I have never lived
in South Korea since my freshman year at Stanford in
seven on a permanent basis, So I should say here
that we weren't able to reach Tableau's brother, David Lee
to ask him about any of this, but our producer
did talk to Sam one final time over the phone,
(22:56):
just to see if he had any other thoughts. They
started talking about education and pressure again, and he didn't
say much about his own personal experience. But Sam did
say that he does think there is a heightened pressure
to succeed in Korea, and that's sort of one of
the only things that both he and Tableau seemed to
agree on. If you watch how I raised my daughter
(23:18):
like I am through showing through action what I didn't
like about it, I'm raising her in a different way,
and I don't really share it because there's no venue
for me to share it really, and it's just my
private matter. But funny thing, my daughter said to me, Hey, Daddy,
is Stanford really nice? She asked me. She's eleven, right,
(23:44):
And I think she said this because her cousin was
told by someone that you know, maybe like you, you
should grow up in go to Stanford and mentioned it
to how do And I guess how do it because
she talked mommy and Mommy's like, oh, that's the school dad,
daddy went to. So how do? Came and asked me,
(24:06):
And in my heart, I'm like, that's like not what
I demand of you or expect of you, Like I
want you to do your thing. And I was like,
why do you want to go to Stanford? And she
said because I heard there's a shopping center on campus.
And I was just put a smile on my face
right because thank god it was me. I was able
(24:28):
to come out kind of unscathed, if you discount like
these things happening to me. But I've had friends in
college that that weren't able to make it out alive.
(24:50):
Tablo says he came out kind of unscathed, but after
spending days with him to close to twenty hours of interviews.
I gotta say I think he might be overestimating himself here.
Tableau was under incredible pressure to succeed, and to his credit,
he absolutely met his parents expectations for his childhood, a
(25:12):
Western education in elite high school, a prestigious college. Now,
when he graduated, he decided to take another path. His
parents hated this and continually told him that he was
screwing up. But he did it anyway, and he proved
that he was right. But then again, the demands that
his parents put on him helped his career, so in
(25:34):
a way they were right too. That pressure, both internal
and external, that unresolved conflict. It turned him into who
he is today, but it also left him with a
lot of scars and a lot of doubts, especially when
it comes to his family. When I see my friends
or you know, things, see the things that they've accomplished,
(25:58):
UM sometimes have like, you know that that may have
been the safer path that my parents wanted. And if
I had taken that path, regardless of whether or not
I would have enjoyed it, Um, none of what happened
to my family would have happened. Quite possibly, my dad
would still be alive. You really think that, Yeah, I
(26:21):
genuinely think that that this killed my dad. He had
liver cancer when I was in college. He fought it
for a long time and then he got okay. Tablow's
father had been doing great. The family considered it a miracle,
no relapse, no signs of sickness. But then suddenly he
(26:43):
got sick, really sick. And this was like already about
a year into this like heavy, which was like it
was like three sixty five days of seeing um, your
kid's name like in the new is also the entire
family like my brother and my sister, like everyone, uh,
(27:06):
and my mom too, like his wife, right like that
that must have been like really something like something he
you know, and at least I understood the internet like
he you know, this was something like completely new to him,
being like maligned m for the public to see. Right
in March of Tabloo's father was rushed to the hospital.
(27:31):
Tabloo said he remembers going to the hospital just trying
to focus on being there for his dad. But at
the time, the Tajo trial was one of the biggest
news headlines in the country, so the hospital's TVs were
constantly tuned into it. As he was sitting there by
his father's bedside, you could hear the news on the
(27:51):
TVs in the background giving updates on the trial of
the eleven people who were being prosecuted for defaming his family.
Even in the hospital, Tabloo's family couldn't escape it. And
then Tablow told me that within days of being admitted
to the hospital, as the case was still ongoing, Tabloo's
(28:14):
father passed away. It was supposed to be like a
moment of triumph, but my dad never got to see it,
and it was like just a surreal moment where they
were right, you know in a way, Yeah that even
(28:38):
if I do overcome this, uh, it wouldn't change a thing. Yeah,
it is not easy for me to deal with. And
what's worse is that, uh, you know, in a way,
my parents, well, my parents were right because eventually, you know,
(29:00):
it led to you know, my my dad just like
being in the ICU and me like spending you know,
days at the hospital and just watching him die. One
thing that I do carry as weight is um. You know,
people die of cancer, they die of UM, COVID, they
(29:25):
die of like something or old age. My dad died
of this and I don't even know what this is. Ah,
they killed them, I'm sure of that. M so like
(29:50):
that I carry and anybody that's sort of involved in this, like,
you know, I want to free, give and forget, but
I'm also like remembering that they killed my dad. If
it occurs to me every once in a while, and
(30:10):
I'm like, man, I I funked it up for everyone.
If that occurs to me, I think they possibly could
blame me, And that's that's fine. You know, what can
I do? It's partially true, right if I wasn't in
the public eye, none of that would have happened. What
(30:31):
do they blame me for? Do you think I think?
I think my mom still thinks that I should have
taken the safe road, and if I had, my dad
would still be here, her husband would still be there.
Anyone you talked to who knows Tablet personally will say
(30:51):
the same thing. The Tabloos father's death it was a
direct result of Tadano. Even the court documents of firm
that quote this case significantly affected his health, and so
the country that was once skeptical of Tableau started to
feel sorry for him. When it was announced that Tableau's
(31:13):
father had passed. The media, including some of the very
same outlets that had published articles that fed tiging those attention,
showed up to the funeral. They were waiting outside. You know.
It was like I was like walking on the red
carpet or something, you know. M I just wanted to like,
it was pretty fucked up for them to be there.
(31:35):
I mean, I understand that they weren't there to like
give me a hard time. They just they were just
doing their job. But even that was being broadcast, which
I thought would be which I thought it was kind
of odd, Like I would not want to watch somebody
(31:55):
makes no sense. I wouldn't want to watch somebody carry
out their dad. So sorry, Yes, I'm sorry. I'm fine.
(32:23):
I just haven't had to think about it in a while.
It's pretty fun. Up next time. Unauthentic the final episode.
(32:46):
Authentic is a production of Vice Audio and I Heart
Podcast Network, produced and reported by Stephanie Karayuki, Minji Coo,
Hate Osborne, and myself with Janet Lee, Stephanie Brown, and
Sam Egan. Sound design and original music composition by Kyle Murdoch,
with additional support from Natasha Jacobs. Our Supervising producer is
(33:08):
Janet Lee, editing from Lazy Roberts, fact checking by Minji
Ku and Nikole Pasuka. This episode features music from Epic
High from their album Fever's End, distributed by YG Entertainment.
Thanks also to our voice actor Daniel kim Our. Executive
producer and VP A Vice audio is Kate Osborne from
I Heart Podcast Network. Executive producers Nikki E. Tor and
(33:32):
Lindsay Hoffman. I'm XR Thomas. Make sure to subscribe wherever
you get your podcast so you don't miss an episode
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