Crush recently faced much criticism after international fans claimed he intentionally avoided giving high-fives to fans with darker skin.

The controversy started on October 10 KST, when two roommates who attended the '2022 SOMEDAY PLEMORA' festival claimed that Crush skipped them while giving out high-fives because they had darker skin. Along with the claims, video footage of the R&B singer performing at the '2022 SOMEDAY PLEMORA' festival went viral on social media as it shows him allegedly doling out high fives to audience members and skipping two people with darker skin. 

Hours after the controversy started, the singer took to his social media to post an apology and gave an account of his side of what happened. According to Crush, he did not avoid the two fans because of their skin color but because of safety reasons. 

He wrote, "To avoid further misunderstanding, I would like to explain that I had to refrain from giving out high-fives with the fans in particular sections as a safety precaution - fans were getting too close to the fences holding up the audience section and I saw that those in the front row were getting pushed against the fence, so I made a quick judgment not to approach for the safety of my fans. I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding that my actions may have caused. I love each and every one of my fans and I would never discriminate nor favor anyone."

International fans weren't buying the apology and said it didn't make sense, and Crush continued to receive backlash from global fans. With more and more criticism being directed at the singer, K-netizens shared their thoughts and defended Crush.

These K-netizens gathered in a popular online community to give their thoughts on this issue. Many Korean netizens said Crush was not being racist, but he was actually saying "No" to the Korean fans next to the two fans with dark skin and supporting his claim that he was avoiding the section of fans who were pushing against the fence. They commented, "They're no fans," "What do they mean he was being racist? Asians suffer racism far more than anyone," "I had so much fun at that event, this is making me angrier," "I feel so bad for Crush, these international fans know he wasn't being racist, but they are always out to attack any Korean celebrity and putting that racism tag on them," "Just because there's so much racism in their country, they shouldn't be applying that on Crush," "He doesn't need fans like them," "I was there, it was really dangerous because the fence wasn't the one that fans can lean on. It was the kind of fence that can get pushed down," "When you see another video, Crush stopped touching everyone's hands. He did stop because he was thinking about safety," "In another video, you can also see him saying No to other fans," "These people have a victim mentality; they always think it's racism if something is done to them, and they always say stuff like cultural appropriation. I'm about to get PTSD from them," "Those people are out to make Koreans seem racist," and "Crush was definitely not avoiding them intentionally."

K-netizens also stated that you could see Crush putting up his hand and saying "No" to Korean fans as well.