Celebrating 30 years of being a pioneer in Korean entertainment, SM Entertainment flew to Los Angeles with all bags and baggage to stage the prestigious SMTOWN Live 2025 concert. The star-studded roster of 13 groups, amounting to 68 individuals singers, bound for the Dignity Health Sport Park, unleashed a stellar series of ‘SM Family’ performances featuring TVXQ, Super Junior, Red Velvet, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, WayV, RIIZE, aespa, dearALICE, Hearts2Hearts, SHINee’s Key and Minho, EXO’s Suho, Chanyeol and Kai and more.

With their career spanning two decades, K-pop veterans Super Junior‘s signature chaotic identity shone bright, with Leeteuk, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae and Ryeowook gracing the stage as a six-member unit. From performing classics like “Sorry Sorry,” to endless joke-cracking, SuJu’s presence at the landmark concert even made way for hopeful admissions about a potential new album release this summer. However, there was one thing that ticked off global K-pop fans, as video snippets of Super Junior’s address went viral on social media platform, X.

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Super Junior Leeteuk’s unexpected admission at SMTOWN Live 2025

Band member Leeteuk especially became the focus of Super Junior trends on X for contentious reasons, as he was allegedly heard professing his admiration for US President Donald Trump and his billionaire ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk. According to situational videos circulating on the SNS platform, Leeteuk was heard screaming his heart out while expressing his “love” for a series of things that he possibly associates with the United States.

The breathless string of statements included messages like, “I love USA,” “I love In-N-Out,” and “I love Five Guys.” However, the most notably unforgettable lines heard were “I love Trump” and “I love Elon Musk.” As the widely-shared clip continues to do numbers on X, the heated debate surrounding it is still slipping out of hand.

K-pop fans react to Leeteuk’s ‘I love Trump, Elon Musk’ confession

Some fans went as far as suggesting the group to disband or retire after seeing what had gone down in LA. “Leeteuk from Suju screaming he loves Trump and Elon Musk during smtown… disbandment when? RETIREMENT WHEN?!!” read one tweet on the Elon Musk-led platform.

The hate train continued with vicious messages trolling the Space X boss. “Leeteuk shouting out Elon Musk… boy, pls don’t embarrass us. That horrific looking [expletive] is not even American,” someone wrote on the microblogging site.

On the contrary, some fans tried to come to group leader Leeteuk’s rescue. “C’mon ppl can’t you tell that Leeteuk is not American & he’s not fluent in English? He is not aware of the current dynamics in the US and he’s just naming the random famous things he knew in the US like In&Out, Five Guys… we all hate Elon &Trump. Leave Leeteuk out of this,” a Super Junior fan wrote online.

Yet another chimed in, while simultaneously fuming at the SuJu member: “tbh the fact the he yelled “i love in & out” right after makes me think he was just listing a bunch of things that are stereotypically American and he assumed Americans would like to hear, to take it as a political stance is a reach. still, someone tell him it’s f***ed up pls.”

Fans even resorted to make a case for Leeteuk, saying that “he’s supportive of many things that tr*mp and m*sk don’t support, so i think he made the very simplistic assumption that “he’s their country’s president so he’s someone who represents them.”

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Why are fans particularly critical of Leeteuk here? They never expected such a thing from him.

Nowadays, Trump is especially in mainstream focus due to his staunch stance on mass deportations and immigration crackdown. Unfortunately, SM Entertainment’s rising boy group NCT WISH had to sit out the event — despite being listed on the original lineup — over visa issues. Earlier this month, the K-pop label officially disclosed that “an unexpected delay in the approval process, and the visas were ultimately not issued in time.”

Although the rookies’ absence wasn’t necessarily a direct repercussion of Trump’s crackdown on visas for individuals of foreign origin (as the other groups successfully arrived in time), one couldn’t help but note the underlying irony

On top of that, President Trump has often been seen as a threat to LGBTQ+ rights, Leeteuk, on the other hand, has been extolled as SuJu’s “dependable” leader, who even sensitively approached a question seeking to unravel his sexuality.

During an old livestream, the K-pop singer appeared to comfort a transgender fan: “Unexpressed worries can pile up, leading to conditions like depression or anxiety due to the burden of suffering alone. In moments like this one, feel free to share openly. You have nothing to apologise for,” he said, adding, “While I can’t fully understand your struggles or wholly heal your pain, I applaud your bravery for speaking up during this live session.”

Subsequently, a question posed during a different livestream hoped to decode whether Leeteuk “liked” men or women. He reportedly replied, “The comments asked if I like men or women? I like both. I’m not the type to specifically dislike certain people.” Fans associated his response to him seemingly coming out as bisexual. “If I answer such a question too directly, it will cause controversy.” While many have praised the “Honey” singer for apparently speaking his heart out without actually revealing anything, others have also questioned the credibility of his reply’s English translation.