People linked to the looksmaxxing scene started using photos and clips of RM to highlight supposed facial flaws. If you’re not familiar, looksmaxxing is this internet subculture obsessed with getting as attractive as possible, sometimes through pretty extreme means. Sure, there’s advice about staying fit or taking care of your skin, but things get dark too. Some of these people push things like “bone smashing” (yep, literally trying to break bones to change your face), even though doctors warn it’s both dangerous and pointless.
On TikTok, you’ll find these videos comparing chins and jawlines, using RM as a bad example. One clip made its way to X, where someone added, “NOT THE LOOKSMAXXING COMMUNITY USING RM AS AN EXAMPLE OF BEING CHOPPED OMG ????.” Suddenly, RM was getting dragged into a whole conversation he never asked for.
Fans weren’t having it.
Loads of people jumped online to back him up and point out problems with these posts. They called out how looksmaxxing circles keep pushing Eurocentric features as the gold standard, while labeling natural ethnic features as “flaws.” Things like chin shapes or nose types, features totally normal for millions of peoplem get picked apart. Some critics went further, saying there’s overlap with the incel community and calling out the racist undertones in who gets targeted. One person wrote, “posting nazi rhetoric to try and dunk on a celebrity you don’t like,” and someone else added, “y’all siding with actual incels and sharing their stuff just to hate on RM is lowkey insane.”
Honestly, this isn’t new for the K-pop world. Idols get pulled into looksmaxxing debates all the time, used as examples in these before-and-after posts without their permission just reduced to numbers and “scores.” Doctors have spoken up again and again, warning that obsessing over jaw angles or dangerous trends like bone smashing messes with people’s health, both mentally and physically.
For RM’s fans, the whole thing just proved (again) how quickly the internet can turn someone’s appearance into a punching bag. But in the end, the love was louder, fans flooded social media with photos, performances, and magazine covers showing everything RM’s brought to the table, reminding everyone there’s a lot more to him than what some random group on TikTok thinks is attractive.
