Do we like Josh Cullen Santos?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Charity work and public anti-corruption comments sit alongside one resurfaced 2014 tweet with a slur, and no apology turned up in what we read.
Josh Cullen Santos is the lead rapper and dancer of SB19, the group that put P-pop on the world map. He's also gone out on his own, with a solo debut in 2023, a first album called Lost & Found and a spot on the GRAMMYS Global Spin series in 2024.
Now he's back with “Like Me”, a solo comeback single with Korean-American rapper Jay Park, who also co-wrote it. GMA describes it as a song about identity, adapting to change and staying distinctive. The first live run was at his showcase in Taguig in late September.
Now the awkward bit. In January 2025 a tweet from April 2014 was made public, and it contained a slur aimed at gay men. Angry fans sent him a flood of criticism and he made his X account private, though the Tribune's report doesn't say he responded or apologised. Other fans defended him, with one asking whether people can change.
That's the whole harm file we could find: one decade-old tweet, no campaigning, no conspiracy rabbit holes and no dodgy company that turned up in our searches. It's a real stain, though, and a proper apology would clear it up. That's why it's an asterisk and not a clean pass.
On public issues, in September 2025 he and bandmate Pablo posted a short Facebook video of musical rants aimed at officials, a reaction to frustration over corruption in government. It pulled millions of views. When online critics dismissed his comments, he answered back with “Don't mock people who actually care about what's happening in our country.”
The good stuff is real, too. In late 2024 he joined a Sony Music outreach event for vulnerable children at a parish in Tondo, Manila. He performed, got the kids dancing, told them about his own early hardships and handed out gifts. That reads as someone who turns up, not just someone who posts about it.