Do we like them?

Do we like RM?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record and real generosity, with one contested moment this August and a thinner file than we'd like.

RM is the leader of BTS, the seven-piece Korean group that became one of the biggest acts on the planet. He's the one who speaks English for the band, writes a lot of the lyrics, and is usually the voice in the room when the group explains itself. This is a lighter file than I'd normally like, so read it with that in mind.

The band's 2026 comeback album, ARIRANG, is the big story of his year. In an interview around its release he said “We're still here because we love each other so much” and called the group and its fans his youth. It's a warm, fairly typical RM answer: loyal to the band, a bit sentimental, nothing nasty in it.

The harm check is where the August row comes in. The Pixel Project suspended him from its male role models list after he was photographed backstage with Chris Brown, and said its decision followed a silence it called deafening. Fans are split: some call it guilt by a single photo, others say a man with that audience should have said something. Reports didn't show a reply from him, and a photo is not a statement, so that's the asterisk and no more.

Beyond that, I found no harmful words from him about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet in this search, and no projects with people who push harm. That's an absence of evidence rather than a full audit, so it's worth saying plainly. Other outlets also reported smoking in non-smoking areas of Tokyo in April, which is bad manners and a bit silly but not a harm-test matter.

The good stuff is real. In March 2025 he donated 100 million won to wildfire relief in South Korea. He also said in late 2025 that he wished his agency would show the group more affection, which fans read as a rare bit of honesty from inside the K-pop machine.

So where does that leave us? He's a likeable, generous bloke with one dodgy photo and a response we're still waiting on. If he addresses the Chris Brown row well, the asterisk shrinks.