Comedian Joel Kim Booster on the pressures of being a gay Asian man with a “great and gorgeous” body

Comedian Joel Kim Booster has been making a name for himself with appearances on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Conan, Netflix, Comedy Central and more, as well as with his brutally honest, absolutely hilarious observations about gay culture, which he regularly shares with his 60K followers on Twitter:

I hope Pete Buttigieg’s campaign slogan is written like a Grindr bio. “? to be President but would settle for VP if it gets there ?? I’m only human ?. Face pic to chat ????” — Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) March 14, 2019

The way I see it, I could either masturbate now, luxuriously, at my own pace, like a prince OR stare at Grindr for the next four hours, half heartedly send out a few nudes, forget to eat, accomplish nothing and jerk off hastily, in anger. — Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) March 13, 2019

A lot of people love to say things on the apps like “just living life” as though there is any other option oh my god is there another option? — Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) March 12, 2019

I’ve been sexually rejected by both the managers at my Equinox at two separate warehouse sex parties and that’s the kind of motivational trauma I simply cannot find at a Crunch or Gold’s! — Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) March 8, 2019

Now, he’s sharing more of that brutal honesty on the Advocate’s podcast LGBTQ&A, where he recently sat down to talk about a wide array of topics, ranging from his race to his penis, two things that are often conflated.

“The inherent assumption in ‘I’m not attracted to Asian men’ is that we all look the same or there’s an innate quality about Asian men that you cannot separate,” Booster says.

“Let’s be real, that’s the thing behind ‘No Asians’. Saying ‘I like a guy with a big dick who’s masculine, who’s muscular, who’s XYZ.'”

He continues, “All of the things that are not associated with Asian men typically in terms of the stereotypes we see in the media and elsewhere. But there are Asian men that exist who would check those boxes.”

Then there’s his penis, and the stereotype that Asian men aren’t as well-endowed as men of other races. Booster says “it’s a real weight” he’s carried for years.

“I feel this weird relationship to my dick,” he explains. “I love my penis. It is great and gorgeous, but there is this moment every time before I whip it out that I think, ‘Am I the first Asian penis that this person is going to see in a hookup? Am I gonna measure up? Is this going to meet expectations? Fall below expectations?'”

Having that sort of pressure, Booster says, “will truly drive you nuts.”

One of Booster’s biggest frustrations with the gay community is feeling excluded because of the stereotypes attached to his race.

“Sometimes you interact with someone whose entire view of your self-worth is wrapped up in f*ckability,” he says.

“No matter how I force my body into a shape that’s more in the zeitgeist of gay male desire, I will always be a little bit apart from that world because of my race and because of perceptions about my race.”

He continues, “I’ve accepted it, but it is tough sometimes to be introduced to somebody and just have them look through you and you know exactly why.”

“I’m not attracted to everybody that I meet,” he concludes, “but I still am able to treat people I’m not attracted to with respect and humanity.”

Scroll down for more pics from Booster’s Instagram page…