{"id":597489,"date":"2026-08-27T10:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/597489\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T10:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:18:10","slug":"broadway-star-lea-salonga-defends-unfollowing-bts-rm-j-hope-after-chris-brown-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/597489\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadway star Lea Salonga defends unfollowing BTS\u2019 RM, J-Hope after Chris Brown concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lea Salonga has defended her decision to unfollow BTS members RM and J-Hope following their attendance at a Chris Brown concert, saying the move was made for her own well-being and not as a punishment against the K-pop stars.<\/p>\n

Salonga, who has been long vocal about her admiration for BTS, addressed the issue during her \u201cAsk Miss Lea\u201d session on Threads on Tuesday, Aug\u00a025, after a netizen asked whether her views had changed about RM and J-Hope\u2019s appearance at Brown\u2019s concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst off, my being a fan can be equated to a single grain of sand on a massive beach,\u201d Salonga said. \u201cWhatever my actions are won\u2019t affect anyone, except maybe cause consternation in the minds of other fans, which I do expect and accept responsibility for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes I did unfollow, but I did it for my own sake,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s not meant to be punitive to either of them, at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salonga explained that she decided to distance herself from the BTS members after realizing that the controversy was affecting her emotionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I recognised that I was waking up sad and\/or upset, or find myself way too affected. This was unhealthy so I took a step back, for me,\u201d she expressed.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ:\u00a0Fans outraged at BTS members attending Chris Brown concert<\/a><\/p>\n

The Broadway star also acknowledged that RM and J-Hope are autonomous individuals who can make their own decisions, just as she has the right to make her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs many fans have rightly pointed out, we are owed nothing really. They are autonomous human beings, but so am I, and whatever decisions I make are mine alone,\u201d Salonga explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I hurt anyone in the aftermath, that isn\u2019t my intention but I\u2019m sorry if I hurt you nonetheless,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Despite unfollowing the two BTS members, Salonga made it clear that her affection for the group and the role their music played in her life remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am still so grateful for the typhoon they created in my life when they arrived in 2020. I was navigating my marriage ending, raising a teenager, and a global pandemic (not to mention the occasional death threat due to politics). They saved my sanity when I needed saving. I\u2019ll never forget that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Salonga was also asked how difficult it was for her to \u201cgive Joon and Hobi grace,\u201d referring to RM\u2019s real name, Kim Nam-joon, and J-Hope\u2019s real name, Jung Ho-seok.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s not about giving them grace or not, but rather giving myself the space to stop being upset,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m giving them as much grace as I can. As I\u2019ve said, this isn\u2019t punitive, I\u2019m not doing this to punish them. This is a step to take in order for me to be able to enjoy the music again, and I will get there eventually. I hope you understand,\u201d concluded the Filipina actress-singer.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ:\u00a0BTS, Chris Brown and the fracture of a carefully built narrative<\/a><\/p>\n

RM and J-Hope have faced criticism from some fans since attending Brown\u2019s co-headlining concert with Usher at Rogers Stadium in Toronto on Aug\u00a012.<\/p>\n

J-Hope later shared photos and videos from the concert on social media, while Brown posted a backstage photo of himself with RM and J-Hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The images prompted backlash from fans who questioned the BTS members\u2019 decision to publicly associate with Brown, whose career has been marred by legal controversies and allegations involving violence.<\/p>\n

Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna, and has faced other allegations and legal cases involving violence.<\/p>\n

The controversy also prompted The Pixel Project, a nonprofit organisation focused on ending violence against women, to indefinitely suspend RM from its list of \u201c16 Male Role Models Helping to Stop Violence Against Women.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organisation said it had waited for RM to publicly address the controversy before taking action, while noting that being a role model does not require perfection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have never expected any male role model (including RM) to be perfect. Everyone is human after all,\u201d The Pixel Project said in a public statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut being a decent human being also means being accountable when your choices hurt other people,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The organisation said RM and J-Hope\u2019s decision to pose with Brown was \u201cat best, careless about the wider damaging impact\u201d of publicly associating with him.<\/p>\n

Some fans have defended the BTS members, arguing that attending a concert or taking a photograph with another artist does not necessarily mean endorsing that person\u2019s past behavior. Others suggested that RM and J-Hope may have attended as fellow musicians. \u2013 Philippine Daily Inquirer\/Asia News Network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lea Salonga has defended her decision to unfollow BTS members RM and J-Hope following their attendance at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409,4976],"class_list":["post-597489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music","tag-na"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}