K-pop band Stray Kids’ Felix makes smoking gesture on stage: fans upset

K-pop band Stray Kids’ Felix is facing some unwarranted hate after fans found a video where the rapper pretend to smoke. The group have had three concerts in Australia as part of their ongoing Maniac World Tour.

According to Koreaboo, towards the end of the concert when band member Seungmin claimed that “we were lit!” Felix pretended to throw a cigarette on the ground and put it out with his shoe.

After the video was posted, an online forum was created titled: “Felix Pretending To Be A Litterbug Smoker On Stage During A Concert.” The original post went on to take a negative view of the idol’s actions, stating: “This Stray Kids member used to be super quiet in Korea, probably because he doesn’t speak Korean. But now that he’s overseas and he can communicate in English, he’s not feeling so suppressed anymore. So much for the “angel” concept.”

After the backlash, fans came to his defence saying that the gesture was usually done by performers against their opponents during dance battles.