Do we like RM (Kim Nam-joon)?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A long record of giving and speaking up, with one recent bad look that he hasn't yet answered.
RM leads BTS, and he has long been the member who talks about big issues. In 2024 the Pixel Project put him on its list of male role models helping to stop violence against women. The group had praised his efforts to study feminism and gender issues when it honoured him.
Then came August 2026. RM and J-Hope went to Chris Brown and Usher's Toronto show on 12 August, J-Hope posted videos from it, and Brown later uploaded a backstage photo of the pair with him. Brown has faced convictions and allegations of abusing women, and fans were upset. The Pixel Project said it had waited a week for a statement and called the silence “that silence is deafening”.
The important detail is that RM hasn't been accused of any personal misconduct connected to Brown. As of the reports we read, neither he nor his agency had addressed the concert or the suspension. So this is a judgement call about a photo and a silence, and where you land depends on whether you see it as one bad night out or as ignoring the women who make up most of his audience.
On the wider harm check, no slurs, culture-war campaigning or conspiracy theories from him turned up in what we read. In 2023 he was accused of Islamophobia after sharing a Frank Ocean song. He denied it, saying “I am not gonna apologize”, and said he never meant to insult a religion. Some fans disagreed and criticism of that call was real.
There is also a smaller one. In April 2026 Japanese weekly Shukan Bunshun reportedly alleged he smoked repeatedly in no-smoking areas of Shibuya and left cigarette butts behind. His agency had not issued a statement when the Korea Times republished the claim. It's a bad look, not a big one.
The good stuff is steady. On his birthday in September 2025 he gave 100 million won to Asan Medical Center in Seoul to help cover care for patients who can't afford it. He said he wanted to take part in something meaningful for his birthday. It's a pattern of quiet birthday giving.