Do we like RM?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Years of speaking up against discrimination and steady giving, held back by the Chris Brown backstage photo and his silence on it.
RM, born Kim Namjoon, is the leader and main rapper of BTS. He was rapping in Korea's underground scene while still in middle school, and at 16 he auditioned for Big Hit Entertainment. He took the spot, reportedly without telling his parents first. That scrappy start is why fans see him as the thoughtful one of the seven.
The harm check starts well. At the UN in 2018, he told young people to “speak yourself” and listed gender identity among the things that shouldn't stop anyone. In 2022 he was the first BTS member to speak at the White House, on anti-Asian hate and inclusion. We found nothing from him on trans people, climate denial, vaccines or any conspiracy theory. That's a clean sheet on the usual red flags.
There's one real stain on that sheet. In 2023 RM shared Frank Ocean's “Bad Religion” on Instagram, and critics accused him of Islamophobia over its lyrics. He denied insulting any faith and refused to apologise. Where you land depends on whether you read that as a fan sharing a song or as a careless post.
The newer problem is the Chris Brown photo. After RM attended Brown's Toronto show in August, a backstage photo went up, and some fans objected. The Pixel Project, a volunteer-run nonprofit that campaigns against violence against women, indefinitely suspended him from its male role models list. It had added him in 2024, and it said “that silence is deafening”. Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend in 2009. RM hasn't said anything publicly, and the coverage we found has no statement from him.
On the smaller stuff, Japanese weekly Shukan Bunshun alleged in April that he smoked repeatedly in non-smoking zones in Tokyo and left butts behind. His agency issued no official statement, and he hasn't answered it. It's a minor allegation and nowhere near the Brown story. His record of giving is the bigger thing: he gave 100 million won to the National Museum of Korea's supporters' group in September, and he was named a global ambassador for the museum in June.
So would we support him? Mostly yes. His words and acts on discrimination are good, his giving is steady, and there's no court record against him. The Brown photo is a real misstep, and a short, honest statement would settle it. Until he makes one, he gets a 7 and an asterisk, not a clean 10.