A celebrated Muay Thai fighter semi-apologized yesterday for groping a woman as he filmed her in public.
After releasing several statements regarding his inappropriate behavior towards women, Thaworn Sudchanham, aka Wanchalong PK Saenchai, promised he won’t film any more “fun” videos that involve sexual assault, but the fighter played his apology off as another gag.
“This is the result of my bad actions,” read a caption to yesterday’s clip, in which he grins and handwashes laundry. “I didn’t think it would be big news. After this there will be no more like it. I apologize to everyone disappointed in me. Now, my wife has announced a curfew; I’m grounded and must do all the housework and refrain from taking clips with other people.”
Despite his cavalier attitude, his fans seemed forgiving.
“Wanchalong, society in this country is difficult to understand,” Addy Somruay wrote. “I’m an uncle who’s been here for 72 years and sometimes I still don’t understand. There are high morals, but there is a social distortion in this country. But uncle understands that Wanchalong is a famous person, if someone else did it, maybe no one would be interested.”
Addy then encouraged him to watch porn: “I like it every day.”
That was the closest Wanchalong came to an actual apology since Sunday morning, when he tried to pass the episode off as just an act that involved the woman’s consent. He insisted that “in reality, I’m a sweet guy and not horny.”
For the original clip, posted Tuesday to TikTok, Wanchalong filmed himself laughing as he squeezed a woman’s butt as she talked to another person. After the woman turned to him, Wanchalong proceeded to touch her breasts. She can be seen laughing and moving away nervously as the fighter’s friends try to stop him.
The clip drew criticism from viewers who called him out for sexual harassment. Though the original clip has been removed, and Wanchalong’s TikTok made private, it has been reposted numerous times, including by a British campaigner against gender-based violence.
“Sexual objectification, harassment and assault are often passed off as ‘just a joke,’” Emma Thomas wrote. “This video shows what those things can often look like, and how easily they’re dismissed. It’s easy to describe a perpetrator as a ‘flirt’ or a ‘joker’ and say that it’s ‘just the way he is.’”
