“Right Place, Wrong Person” — BTS RM’s “AMAs” Win Sparks Heated Debate

BTS RM‘s recent history-making win has been met with massively divided reactions.

BTS’s RM | HYBE

On May 27, the BTS leader won the American Music Award (AMA) for Favorite K-Pop Artist. This made him the second Korean soloist and third Korean overall to win an AMA.

However, the win has sparked debate amid accusations that the awards show was rigged.

In the Favorite K-Pop Artist category, RM competed against other popular artists, including Stray Kids, BLACKPINK‘s Rosé, ATEEZ, and BTS‘s Jimin.

Favorite K-Pop Artist, amongst other categories, was a fan-voted one, with fans voting on the AMAs website and through hashtags on Instagram.

Some fans of the other artists nominated have shared the alleged tracking of the hashtags used for voting, which shows a different result than the one that was announced. Jimin allegedly led by a large margin throughout most of the voting.

Since it's OBVIOUSLY rigged. We are posting the real data of #AMAs instagram votes tracked.

P.S. We have saved all the original website files.

Please also remember we were leading by a huge margin on every polls. pic.twitter.com/sXZH3xoyEK

— ❄️FirstSnow JiminData｜slow (@FJimindata) May 27, 2025

Taking a closer look at the terms of the awards shows a possible reason for a candidate who did not lead the voting to secure the win. If the voting process is found to have been “tampered with,” allowing the Producer to select a winner.

Despite this, many have used charting performance in America as proof of “rigging” in RM’s favor.

like can someone tell me how rm got nominated in the first place for amas😭 https://t.co/am7gs91Imn

— 🌙 (@jmnnis) May 27, 2025

RM PAID THE WAY
RM PAID THE WAY
AMA IS RIGGED
AMA IS RIGGED
RM PAID THE WAY
RM PAID THE WAY
AMA IS RIGGED
AMA IS RIGGED https://t.co/1vr5JHo7e7

— 🩷H^^py¹³ᴾᴶᴹ💛 (@CSLSGJM) May 27, 2025

The award was bought and paid for the minute he was nominated https://t.co/FGqYHJz7vF

— Lilac (@ittribes) May 27, 2025

On the other hand, many have celebrated the win, sharing their belief that it was well-deserved and earned, dismissing claims of rigging.

YES U DID BABY https://t.co/vTRCgBEkeO pic.twitter.com/s2OUDYzeLX

— Vitta (@vii2in) May 27, 2025

THE REAL "FOR ASIA, MAN WE PAVED THE WAY" 😭😭😭 CONGRATULATIONS NAM 💗💗 https://t.co/PB6cQN9q3a pic.twitter.com/brjjdn3APM

— izumi ── .✦ (@spiderjjjk) May 27, 2025

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