Dee Kosh (Darryl Koshy)

Dee Kosh is a Singaporean social media personality, YouTuber and Radio DJ. He was born and raised in the Philippines. Even though his parents are ethnically Indian and Chinese, he states that he is "Malay by heart".[1] During his years in school, Dee Kosh had been teased for his skin colour. He started telling jokes to overcome his insecurities that stemmed from the teasing.[2] Dee Kosh is known for his straightforward manner and loud personality. He first gained popularity on YouTube (YouTube channel) before becoming a radio DJ on 987 FM and subsequently, Power 98 FM. As of 2019, Dee Kosh has over 160,000 followers on Instagram (Instagram profile) and 200,000 followers on Twitter (Twitter profile).

Dee Kosh
Dee Kosh.jpg
Born
Darryl Ian Koshy

2 November 1988
Philippines
NationalitySingaporean
Other namesXiao Tina, Lechme, Ria Warna
Years active2011 - present
Height182 cm (6 ft 0 in)

YouTube (2011 - present day)

 
Dee Kosh interviewing Shawn Mendes in 2017. Photo from YouTube thumbnail of video.

Dee Kosh gained his initial fame through YouTube. Although he created his YouTube account in 2006, he only begun uploading videos in 2011. He has collaborated with well-known YouTubers like Singaporean blogger Xiaxue and American acapella group Pentatonix.[3] On top of this, he has also interviewed many international artists including Fifth Harmony, Hailee Steinfeld and 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) on his channel. In addition to his personal YouTube Channel, he hosts two shows on local YouTube channel Night Owl Cinematics - ‘Food King’ and ‘Do It For The Money’. He has also been featured on other YouTube channels including The Smart Local and ZYRUP.

As of 2018, Dee Kosh had close to 300,000 followers and more than 62 million views in total on his channel. He regularly uploads comedy skits, vlogs and storytime-type videos. In his videos, he regularly dresses up as different characters such as Xiao Tina, Lechme and Ria Warna. These characters are meant to be exaggerated Singaporean stereotypes of a female Chinese influencer, an Indian lady, and a Malay woman respectively. His most viewed videos include ‘Singaporean Style (Gangnam Style Parody)’ with 3.2 million views and ‘Shawn Mendes Reacts to Thirsty Tweets’ with 1.8 million views.[4]

Radio (2012 - present day)

Dee Kosh’s started his radio career in April 2012 as the host for 987FM’s “Say It With Music” segment.[5] Dee Kosh hosted the segment until January 2013 when he started co-hosting "The Double D Show" with Divian Nair.[6] During his time at 987FM, Dee Kosh interviewed many celebrities including Korean pop group B.A.P as well as Korean pop star Jay Park. In 2014, he left 987FM and joined 98FM. As of February 2019, he has a show on weekday nights from 9 pm to 12 am called "Up All Night".[7]

Year Show segment Radio station Refs.
2014 - present day Up All Night 98FM [8]
2013 The Double D Show 987FM [9]
2012 Say It With Music

Awards & accolades

Year Award Title Awarding organisation Refs.
2015 Collab of the Year Nominee Singapore Social Media Awards (SSMA) [10]
Online Series of the Year Nominee

In 2015, Dee Kosh was nominated for two awards in the Singapore Social Media Awards (SSMAs). Held in May 2015 and hosted by Aaron Jansen and Cleo Chew, the SSMAs was an independently run online awards show acknowledging Singaporean online content creators.[11] The results show spanned three episodes on YouTube, accompanied by additional interview videos (YouTube channel playlist).

Hosting

Events

Year Event Organiser Refs.
2019 Youth Music Awards (YMA) *SCAPE and INVASION Singapore [12]
2015 National Day Parade 2015: Celebrations at The Float SAFRA and People's Association [13]
Asia’s Got Talent (AGT) 2015 - [14]
2013 2013 FHM Models Top Ten - [15]

Newsworthy incidents

Nicole Choo’s book 'Nineteen' (2018)

 
Dee Kosh (Xiao Tina) and Hirzi (Sya Sya) apologising to Nicole Choo. Photo from YouTube thumbnail of video.

In 2018, local YouTuber Nicole Choo released her book titled ‘Nineteen’ as part of the 'BuySingLit' national movement. Following the release, Dee Kosh and local social media personality Hirzi published a YouTube video criticizing the book. In the video, they had pointed out that Nicole Choo’s work read more like "social media captions" instead of the intended poetry.[16] However, the video was later taken down due to a copyright issue. Subsequently, Dee Kosh and Hirzi posted an apology to Nicole Choo on YouTube.[17]


The Associate Editor of Rice Media, Julian Wong addressed Dee Kosh’s video through an article titled 'At 19, Nicole Choo is A Published Poet. So What?". In the article, he argues that it was unfair for them to have undermined Nicole Choo’s work in such an insensitive and crass manner. Julian spoke out against the way Dee Kosh and Hirzi commented on her book, stating that at times their commentary "... came uncomfortably close to sexual harassment and cyberbullying...".[18] The article also included encouraging sentiments from local Youth Poet Ambassador Pooja Nansi who felt that poetry was subjective and that everyone should have the opportunity to express their creativity.

BTS ARMY social experiment (2018)

 
The video in which Dee Kosh revealed the social experiment. Photo from YouTube thumbnail of video.

On 18 October 2018, Dee Kosh had posted a tweet saying “Unpopular Opinion : BTS’s songs all sound the same. I need something fresh! Come on now….”.[19] This comment was not taken too kindly by the K-pop group's fans as they started responding to his comments negatively on Twitter. Subsequently, it appeared that Dee Kosh’s YouTube channel had been deleted due to this incident. He posted a video where he seemed distressed due to all the hateful comments he had been getting from BTS fans. He also mentioned that the fans had gone too far by emailing his bosses in the radio station he was working at about this incident.[20]


However, Dee Kosh himself later revealed that the whole stunt was a social experiment  intended to provoke reaction from the BTS fans. Through this experiment, he wanted to show the consequences of ‘mob mentality’ prevalent in Singapore society.

Eden Ang exposé (2018)

For more information on the incident, refer to Eden Ang.

Dee Kosh had initially spoken out about Eden Ang’s alleged sexual harassment incident on Instagram Live where he revealed the evidence that was sent to him by the alleged victim.[21] He had then uploaded these Instagram Live videos on his YouTube channel. His video sparked more responses from the key people involved the incident, which resulted in the unfolding of the whole saga.

References / Citations

  1. Dee Kosh - About”. Facebook. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  2. Dee Kosh”. Askfm. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  3. Dee Kosh. “90s Music Challenge with PENTATONIX”. YouTube. June 5, 2015. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  4. Dee Kosh”. SocialBlade. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  5. Azliah. “The Double Ds: New funny guys on Singapore radio”. Yahoo Lifestyle. April 12, 2013. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  6. Azliah. “The Double Ds: New funny guys on Singapore radio”. Yahoo Lifestyle. April 12, 2013. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  7. Dee Kosh”. Power 98FM. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  8. Dee Kosh”. Power 98FM. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  9. Azliah. “The Double Ds: New funny guys on Singapore radio”. Yahoo Lifestyle. April 12, 2013. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  10. Kyle Malinda-White. “Gentle Bones, Munah & Hirzi Among Nominees For Singapore Social Media Awards 2015”. Popspoken. March 7, 2015. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  11. Telescope. “Best of Online Entertainment in Singapore”. YouTube. May 16, 2015. Accessed on 13 February 2019.  Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4u4Tvq_A7w&t=0s&list=PLM_XH3SnYRV0TlshX_2-XNYhQqS1dkxaA&index=2
  12. Inaugural Youth Music Awards themed “Catching Feelings” To Celebrate Local Music Representing The Best Different Moments In Life”. Scape. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  13. NDP 2015 Celebrations at The Float Fact Sheet”. SAFRA. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  14. Asia’s Got Talent. “Fresh off the stage interview 1 | Ep 1 | Behind the scenes with Dee Kosh”. YouTube. March 20, 2015. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  15. "2013 APR FHM Models Top Ten, Bugis Junction, Singapore". xtemujin 360 resources Singapore. April 20, 2018. Accessed on 20 February 2019. Retrieved from Wordpress.
  16. MuttonSoda Channel. “Nicole Choo book review with Syasya and Xiaotina (REPOST)”. YouTube. April 30, 2018. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  17. Dee Kosh. “WE’RE SORRY NICOLE CHOO!!”. YouTube. May 25, 2018. Accessed on 12 February 2019.
  18. Wong, Julian. “At 19, Nicole Choo is A Published Poet. So What?”. Rice Media. May 28, 2018. Accessed from 24 January 2019.
  19. Dee Kosh. Twitter. October 15, 2018. Accessed on 13 February 2019. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/TheDeeKosh/status/1052933791797280768
  20. Monique Danao. “Here’s The Dee Kosh, BTS, Youtube Drama Explained”. Must Share News. October 20, 2018. Accessed on 24 January 2019.
  21. Jewel Stolarchuk. “Dee Kosh reveals incriminating details as Eden Ang denies sexual harassing 18-year-old employee”. The Independent. January 27, 2018. Accessed on 24 January 2019.