Some felt he was being rude.
Koreaboo
On November 28 and 29th, the 2025 MAMA Awards took place, honoring musical acts for their work throughout the year.
As usual with the awards show, many artists put on special stages and this year, performances from the popular movie K-Pop Demon Hunters were planned.
Though one performance was ultimately cancelled, the performance of “Golden” from the film went on as scheduled and was performed by BABYMONSTER’s Pharita, Rora, and Ahyeon.
The performance was met with mixed reactions, as netizens weighed in on the idol’s live vocals.
BABYMONSTER’s Performance At “2025 MAMAs” Met With Polarizing Response
A male idol was seen reacting to the most discussed part of the performance, Ahyeon’s high note, and has been hit with mixed reactions.
HYBE‘s CORTIS were filmed off-stage, with James being spotted reacting to the performance. In the video, as Ahyeon sings, James has a big reaction, rocking his head back as his eyes widened.
@xcortiso THIS IS KILLING ME 😭😭😭 #james #cortis #babymonster #ahyeon #fyp
His response was interpreted in different ways, including with it being assumed he was reacting negatively.
First it was keonho making faces when aespa won and now James doing all of that in reaction to Ahyeon’s high note. At what point does it become blatant disrespect? pic.twitter.com/MPYigH3mfL
— Alex¹⁺⁴ (@whitesleuthing) November 28, 2025
People in the qrts defending him because he’s a man, but if a female idol did this, she would have been dragged to hell and back https://t.co/PVfLg9WO9N
— ★🦋 (@itsophanrosed_) November 29, 2025
being a man is so easy.. if this is wonyoung, the 2022 hate train will come back in front of our eyes https://t.co/zAnTp0DDGp
— ✴︎ (@badgirIriirii) November 29, 2025
Others pointed out that he was standing right next to the speakers, and their feelings that his response was not negative.
is it only me or this seems a totally normal reaction like dude is right next to big ass speakers also the members behind him literally admiring and finding it cool so what exactly is the problem here? https://t.co/MjJQIYxxGG pic.twitter.com/2gp6uXdt3g
— Peachblossom (@peacheswint) November 29, 2025
cortis reaction to ahyeon’s high note—i love james reaction, he was practically gasping in disbelief. pic.twitter.com/dJ2dKichVP
— 𝐞𝐫𝐢 (@hyeonphile) November 28, 2025
ahyeon high note was perfect but of course people will drag her bcz it’s trend to hate on her. james was just impressed by her hn and that’s how he react when he finds something impressive. stop using this moment to drag ahyeon.pic.twitter.com/jPxps89o1Z https://t.co/6UBmSo0ToN
— 𓆩♱𓆪 (@asaccelerator) November 29, 2025