BTS’s J-Hope Faces Fan Backlash During Livestream, ARMYs Outraged

BTS member J-Hope is facing backlash after a fan complaint during his birthday live on Weverse.

The controversy started on February 18, KST, when J-Hope was live celebrating his birthday with ARMY. Fans were chatting, asking questions about BTS’s new album and life updates.

A fan brought up the new BTS lightstick, the “ARMY Bomb.” They complained about only using the previous version three times and begged J-Hope to ask the company not to retire it. This came after BIGHIT MUSIC announced the wireless control feature would only work with the newest lightstick starting with BTS’s Busan concert in June.

J-Hope responded calmly, explaining decisions were made for concert safety.

” ‘I only got to use the previous ARMY bomb 3 times. Can you tell them to not pull it from the system?'”
” I did hear that things got changed. It’s too bad. Lightsticks themselves have an effect on the concert and they’ve become like fireworks or fire, so I think maybe they…”
— tweet by @ryuminating

The fan complaint upset many ARMYs who called it disrespectful to bring this up on J-Hope’s birthday live. They pointed out the decision was not in the members’ hands.

“disrespectfully, fck you. If you have a problem, contact the label, but stop complaining in his live. These decisions aren’t his responsibility.”
— @jhopehungary

“why are yall complaining to them about this especially on a birthday live… this isnt even in their hands mind you”
— @taekuv

“i understand the frustration around the army bomb, but what would possess you to bring this up to bts? hobi handled this with grace, but he (or any other member) are not customer service workers who you can complain to, esp not about something that is already decided”
— @SHjiminah

“dude cant believe somebody is making hobi explain about the new army bomb on his birthday live! THERE’S A LIMIT!”
— @anadorablerep

Still, some fans thought the question was valid and praised J-Hope for addressing it directly.

“i think it’s a reasonable question to ask why do y’all get triggered on this stuff, it’s not even criticism it’s a gen concern”
— @roromiey

“the fact that he acknowledge this… my best boy in the entire world”
— @hokyoongi

What do you think? Did the fan cross a line?

Read more about BTS here.