Dee Kosh Comes Clean: Explains Underage Boys Fiasco, Dirty Film Possession & Raunchy Texts

By Rachel Yohannan on 27 Jan 2022

Senior Digital Editor

After being accused of sexually harrassing teenage boys and laying low for the past 1.5 years, Singaporean media personality Dee Kosh (Darryl Ian Koshy) has broken his YouTube hiatus to post a video explaining his side of the story. Going straight to the point with “Finally Addressing Everything” as its title, the 9.5-minute video is a firsthand explanation of the whole fiasco and the charges he has received for sexual offences.

Read on to find out more about Dee Kosh’s video on his court charges!

“I am not a pedo”

Photo from Dee Kosh via YouTube

One thing Dee Kosh was quick to make clear? He is not a pedo, and this has been confirmed through official tests.

"I am not a pedophile. I never have been, nor will I ever be. To substantiate this, I voluntarily went for a psychometric assessment, where my psychosexual history was reviewed by professionals and the results were that I do not fulfill the criteria for the pedophilic disorder."

Dee Kosh’s 7 charges related to sexual offences

On 19th August 2021, Dee Kosh received 7 charges, namely:

1 charge under the Children and Young Persons Act for attempting to procure the commission of an indecent act of a minor
3 charges under 376B2, for communicating with another person for the purpose of obtaining for consideration the sexual services of a minor
3 charges under the Films Act for possessing and making obscene films

According to Dee Kosh, the media painted a monstrous picture of him by lumping all the charges together, when they weren’t all related.

"It made it seem that I had paid the minors, had sex with them, and then filmed the act, which is totally false."

The films he had were of adults, not minors

Photo from @deekosh via Instagram

Dee Kosh further clarifies that the films that were found in his possession were all videos of adults, either “screen recorded or downloaded from the internet” - basically, regular pornography. That said, it is still illegal to own porn in Singapore no matter who is in the videos.

Teenage boys lied about their ages

According to Dee Kosh, a bunch of those teenage boys he encountered online had lied about their ages.

"Dating apps are meant for adults. If you are in reality underaged but on the app, you will be assumed to be 18 and over, especially if your profile says that your age is 18. And you may be propositioned by people that assume you are of legal age.”

Dee says that he should have been more prudent and done his background checks beforehand instead of “assuming that everyone on the app is following the rules and is at least 18”, and admitted he messed up in that area.

"I am not a predator, I did not specifically target individuals who were 17. Nevertheless I understand that an offence was made and I take full responsibility for my actions."

Legal age of consent in Singapore is 16, but it’s 18 with money involved

Photo from @deekosh via Instagram

The legal age for sex is 16, but when paid services are involved, the legal age is 18.

Dee Kosh was unaware of that.

However, he understands that ignorance of the law is no excuse, and is thus willing to take ownership of his mistakes.

He also clarifies that he has never had intercourse with or gained “favours” from anyone aged below 16, nor was there any grooming involved.

“There was no physical contact at all”

Regarding the 376B2 charge, Dee Kosh clarifies that there were no intimate encounters at all, no inappropriate touching, or anything of the sort. In fact, he had never met those boys in person before. All their exchanges were via text messages, and what he’s being charged for are merely attempts rather than acts.

Dee Kosh takes responsibility, jokes about "Food King Changi Prison edition"

Photo from @deekosh via Instagram

Dee Kosh shares that he chose to make this video to personally contextualise his charges - some of which had already been blown out of proportion or misrepresented - before the internet and the media got to say anything more about him.

“I'm not here to like, try and change your mind, or make excuses for myself, or tell you how you should feel about me…All I wanted was to be able to tell my side of the story."

He has decided not to fight the case, and says, “I am ready to receive whatever consequence the law has for me, even if it means me going to jail. I do not take this decision lightly but I am very very grateful and thankful for the support I have from my family and the people that I love who have really stuck by me through this whole ordeal.”

He started tearing up at the part where he thanked all his supporters, and expressed that every single comment and DM received has meant a lot to him throughout this difficult time.

Sticking true to the comedic personality he is known for, he ends the video on a lighthearted note, saying, “Looks like I can film Food King, Changi Prison edition! Oh wait…no more Food King already.”

If you don’t know what he’s referring to - read our recent article on Ryan Tan leaving NOC, the very company he founded with his ex-wife Sylvia Chan.

Check out Dee Kosh's full video below: