In the past, my friends have called me some sort of celebrity magnet, claiming I have run-ins more than the average person. I don’t particularly believe this. When I list them out, it’s not actually that many. And well, when you factor in that most of them were work-related, I’m not a magnet.
However, I do have one, completely organic and out-of-the-blue celebrity run-in.And it was amazing.
Buckle up, folks. I’m about to tell you about how I, a woman from a small town in Oklahoma, hung out in sports pub in Seoul, South Korea, with none other than King Joffrey, or rather, Jack Gleeson.
It was the week before Halloween in 2019. I was a full-time freelancer and found myself in a slow month. So, I had volunteered to help my friend decorate the bar he managed for their upcoming Halloween party.
Game of Thrones had officially ended several months prior, but I was still in a GOT group chat with some friends who gathered every Monday night to watch the last season. About halfway to walking to Haebangcheon (or HBC as we called it), my phone started going off like crazy. It’s the group chat.
“OMG -- KING JOFFREY IS AT PHILLIE’S RIGHT NOW!”
Phillie’s just so happened to the exact bar I was headed to.
I stopped in the sidewalk and watched the texts fly in. Now, I’ve always gotten super nervous meeting famous people, but when it’s work-related, I pull it together and go into reporter mode. This was not work-related. I was not about to interview Jack Gleeson. I couldn’t go into reportermode.ButIneeded to act like a grown adult. So I did what any grown adult would do.
I got to the bar and completely ignored the fact that I walked by the table where Jack was seated with two other guys, chowing down on food while watching rugby matches on the TV.
No one was bothering them. This wasn’t because no one knew who he was. Oh no. Everyone there knew who he was. It was in the way they all made nervous glances toward his table and whispered together. But no one was going to bother him. It was actually kind of cool. It was like we had all collectively decided that we weren’t going to ruin his night.
Iwentdownstairsandgot to work on decorating. But I can’t lie -- I made every excuse that I could to run upstairs for something. Just as everyone in the group chat made whatever excuse they could to show up at Phillie’s that night, regardless of the fact that it was a work night. I didn’t hover or anything (and neither did they). I had no intentions of intruding on his night at all.
But at some point, one of my friends approached him and ended up chatting with Jack and his friends. This led to me eventually joining them and hanging out. They left shortly after, but I ran into them again at another friend’s establishment down the road.
We spent hours hanging out that night.And boy, was it fun. I found out that the three were in Asia for the Rugby World Cup, which was being played in Japan. They decided to hop over to South Korea for a quick trip.
And Jack is an incredibly nice, funny Irish lad. I had heard that he quit acting after GOT with all the hate he got playing King Joffrey. On the one hand, it’s a testament to how great an actor he is. On the other hand, it’s also a testament to how horrible people can be.
But his final season on GOT was a few years behind him at this point, and he didn’t seem to let it botherhim.Hewasfocused on finding work that he loved and wasn’t yet sure if he’d return to acting. He was also genuinely moved by everyone who told them that they loved his work on the show.
I think I got home around 1 a.m., but it was worth it. (Also, I didn’t have any work the next day.) Jack told me that he and his friends intended to come back to HBC that Saturday for all of the grand Halloween festivities.
It was the best Halloween ever.
That night, my friend group ended up hanging out with Jack and his friends again. He and I ended up having a conversation about growing up in Oklahoma. We got him to try soju for the first time.
It was just a really fun, memorable night.
I was happy to find out in 2025 that he had returned to the world of acting. I didn’t know about his previous works in 2020 and 2023 at the time, but I found out he was cast as Puck in “The Sandman.” I definitely watchedandrootedforhim.
And through all that, I learned something. The Irish truly are some of the best people in the world.