Stray Kids' Felix Faces Unwarranted Backlash After Making A "Smoking Gesture" On Stage

Stray Kids’ Felix is facing some unwarranted backlash after netizens discovered a video where the idol allegedly pretends to “smoke” a cigarette on stage.

Stray Kids’ Felix | *@realstraykids*/*Instagram*

Stray Kids recently performed at three concerts in Australia as part of their Manic world tour.

[스키지기]
매일이 STAY와 함께하는 공연 날이었으면…🥲
멜버른, 함께 즐겨주셔서 정말 고마워요🥰

Imagine if every day was concert day…🥲
Thank you soooo much, Melbourne🥰#StrayKids #스트레이키즈 #2ndWorldTour_MANIAC #MANIAC #MANIAC_SKZ #YouMakeStrayKidsStay pic.twitter.com/8l2LOYEb9a

— Stray Kids (@Stray_Kids) February 18, 2023

Toward the end of one of the shows, Felix did an action that caught the attention of netizens. According to fans at the show, when Felix heard Seungmin say, “we were lit!” he performed a gesture that looked like he was putting a cigarette on the ground.

In an online forum post titled “Felix Pretending To Be A Litterbug Smoker On Stage During A Concert,” an anonymous user shared a negative perspective of the moment, accusing Felix of faking his kind personality.

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.

— OP

Netizens commenting on the post gave their perspective, saying that the OP was wrong in their assumption.

“Okay, but you can tell from how he moves his legs. He doesn’t smoke. LOL. It’s obviously some kind of a move. Don’t take everything so seriously, OP. What’s it to you?”
[Felix] did that because Seungmin said something like, ‘We crushed this stage! We were lit!’ in English… It’s an actual dance move that you can look up.”
“If you’re curious about what he’s doing, watch this: (YouTube link).”
“It’s called the ‘Smoke Gesture.’ Dancers do this. LMAO. Don’t start with his personality and sh*t if you don’t know what you’re talking about. This whole post says more about you than him. HAHA.”

After the initial backlash, fans also came to Felix’s defense, explaining that dancers perform the gesture during dance battles against opponents.

An example of a dancer doing a move similar to what Felix did.

Fans also stated that regardless of that, pretending to smoke was something everyone had done at one point. Many also shared how “unnecessary” the backlash was towards Felix.

oh the korean media would have a heart attack if they found out i used to pretend to smoke as a kid using one of these 😭 https://t.co/I9qqeCyUgS pic.twitter.com/xbblBCaxXe

— neb (@hrturl) February 20, 2023