HYBE Idol Receives Blistering Backlash For Allegedly Mocking Black Women

HYBE’s fifth-gen male idol has landed himself in hot water over some of his social media content.

The idol in question is James from BIGHIT MUSIC’s newest boy group, CORTIS.

The controversy in question arose from a recent X (formerly Twitter) post pointing to two separate TikTok videos posted by the idol where he was seen imitating a creator named LaNia the Artist. LaNia went viral on social media multiple times this year for her joyful videos celebrating her time in Paris, France.

James recreated the same videos, keeping the original audio from LaNia’s TikToks. However, the X post implied that the way he acted in the video stood out as “weird,” especially his excessive hand movements.

Something about this is weird to me…… more specifically the hand gestures pic.twitter.com/Fckr8lBntb

— it was a gi jane JOKE (@T0te1z) July 11, 2026

The post, which has garnered nearly five million views at the time of writing, has stirred up fiery reactions. While fans maintain that James has always been “sassy” with his body language, netizens felt that his gestures crossed into anti-Black microaggression and misogynistic caricaturing. A lot of them also pointed out that brushing aside such actions as simply someone “acting gay” only underlined the reality of non-Black queer folks “appropriating” the mannerisms and speech of Black women.

notice how she’s just being herself and this dude comes along and makes a whole over the top caricature of her 😐

— K (@squared2speak) July 11, 2026

He’s caricaturising her so her joy comes across as silly and “ghetto”. It’s one of those subtle (not really tho) ways that gay men love to express their misogynoir.

— Murder Maki (@TiiNa_Rex) July 12, 2026

“he’s just acting gay” omg it’s almost as if we’ve been telling yall for years that white gay culture is known for appropriating black womens speech and mannerisms 😭😭. that’s not rlly the gotcha u think it’s is.

— sage (@markingofdesire) July 12, 2026

his fans using him being “zesty” as an excuse like gay nonblack men aren’t known for appropriating black mannerisms, especially for humor purposes. idgaf if he’s gay, don’t be RACIST! pic.twitter.com/sZjyoJzMsy

— M00N⛥ (@FAIRYM00NSTAR) July 11, 2026

he saw a fat black woman and immediately thought those caricature ass movements were necessary. he in the same weirdo club as wendy pic.twitter.com/eCDtwQj9r5

— M00N⛥ (@FAIRYM00NSTAR) July 11, 2026

However, fans are arguing that the criticism is unwarranted as James didn’t make the videos out of malice. Some reasoned that the CORTIS member should be held accountable without harsh judgment, being given the benefit of the doubt.

GOD FORBID A MAN IS A LIL ZESTY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/KanHCK8NwK

— niel 🚥 (@hyeon_core) July 11, 2026

you guys will do anything to turn cortis into the bad guys, this is literally just james personality like? 😭 pic.twitter.com/Jy4EVc79QU

— rus (@cherryjuhoon) July 11, 2026

im gonna hold your hand and tell you that neither he is trying to make a “caricature” of this woman nor he’s mocking her cuz atp so many INFLUENCERS act like that so it’s an imitation of that to be funny pic.twitter.com/KfEniSdDRV

— james’ crop top🎐 (@818tones) July 11, 2026

i love james so much and he isn’t a malicious person, but it’s possible to see how a black person could feel weird about the gestures he’s making. i don’t personally think he was going out of his way to insult black women, but of course some people will interpret things…

— kan (@nikicuIture) July 12, 2026