GMMTV star ‘Fourth’ Nattawat Jirochtikul has apologised for a remark he made on April Fool’s day relating to “dating” a co-star.
In the early hours of 1 April, ‘Fourth’ posted on X (formerly known as Twitter): “I’m dating Gemini”, referring to fellow GMMTV actor ‘Gemini’ Norawit Titicharoenrak, who was his co-star and on-screen partner in the boys-love (BL) series My School President.
The post sparked intense debate on X, with some users alleging’ the star ‘Fourth’ – who is also signed to Riser Music as a recording artist – was making light of LGBTQ relationships, despite shooting to fame after acting in a BL drama.
Others called him out for the poor timing of the joke, coming days after Thailand lawmarkers passed a marriage equality bill. One user even took the actor to task for not advocating for marriage equality, despite being a law undergraduate (the actor just began his studies in Bangkok).
There were also fans who came to his support, noting that the statement was merely made in jest. Some felt it was clearly an April Fool’s comment and that the duo were clearly still friends.
Hours later, ‘Fourth’ took to social media to apologise. Writing in Thai, he says in his “point of view”, it was a “cute sentence” to share.
“But it was my fault that it did not turn out the way I had thought,” he writes, adding that he has read comments from “both sides of the debate”.
“[I] feel guilty for not looking carefully at every angle and every aspect. I apologise to everyone who felt bad about [my posting],” he continues.
He later posted that “Love, no matter in what form, is always beautiful and good”, a possible reference to the passing of the marriage equality bill in the Thai parliament.
‘Gemini’ has not publicly commented on the post. The incident has thrust back into the spotlight the issue of ‘fan service’ by BL actors, some of whom do not identify as LGBTQ.
