As Jennie herself sings, “Haters, they don’t really like Jennie.” The Blackpink singer (real name Jennie Kim, actress name Jennie Ruby Jane) still faces allegations of being a “lazy dancer.” This time, it’s for her performance during Blackpink’s Deadline World Tour, which kicked off last month in Seoul and is scheduled to run until January 2026. Much of the conversation centers on her energy in executing choreography, comparing her with her fellow group members, Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé. But Jennie’s fans say clips from hourslong concerts are being taken out of context to make her look bad. They’re ready to defend her as several different theories continue to spread online. In every version of the story, the question posed by her March single remains relevant: “Who else got ’em obsessed like Jennie?”

Theory No. 1: Is she lazy?

Jennie fans have been countering this criticism for years. In 2018, footage of her dancing went viral in a YouTube video titled “Jennie Being Lazy (NOW vs. THEN).” The montage edited performances of the same songs side-by-side to highlight a stark contrast in her movements and racked up more than 2.8 million views before label YG Entertainment blocked it on copyright grounds, according to Korea JoongAng Daily. During the Deadline tour’s stops in Los Angeles in July, footage of Jennie standing onstage while her members dance went viral in support of these “laziness” theories. Fans were quick to point out that she appeared to be having an issue with her mic pack in the clip in question and that other idols — even Jennie’s group mates — have paused onstage before. Still, some commenters weren’t satisfied, arguing that she could have done the choreography with one hand or tried to play it off more.

Theory No. 2: Is it about her health?

Jennie has a long history of injuries during her Blackpink career that date back as early as a sprain acquired in the group’s debut music-show performance in 2016. During the Born Pink World Tour in 2023, Jennie left a show early owing to her “deteriorating condition.” On that tour, she similarly faced online backlash from those who felt her performance wasn’t as professional as they’d wanted. She later acknowledged some of the criticism that summer in a conversation with Dua Lipa (who could empathize as someone whose dancing was once immortalized with “go girl, give us nothing“). According to Jennie, compared with her bandmates, she has long been more prone to tripping or hurting herself during performances. “I realized that even though I had the training days, that was more about ‘I need to be good at dancing’ not ‘How do I keep myself safe and healthy while I’m doing this?’” she reflected on Lipa’s At Your Service podcast at the time. “So I feel like I’ve disappointed my fans at some points of my life where it seemed like I wasn’t giving my best, but I want to say that I did not know how to control my body and use my body the way I should. Jennie went on to add that when she’s traveling often and her feet are bloated, if she tries to dance in heels, her “stamina just goes really down.”

Theory No. 3: Is she just rage-baiting?

What if she’s just doing this to generate conversation in the age of the internet? Since she knows both her fans and her haters are watching, some argue she’s intentionally leaning into the discourse. It appears to have worked on some people. “Girl, keep doing what you’re doing, because the people are talking about it,” Leah La Rosa said in an August 3 TikTok response to fan backlash over a since-deleted Billboard video in which she asked fans about Jennie’s viral moments on tour.

In a July 29 TikTok, The Bachelorette and Traitors star Gabby Windey referenced a viral moment from the tour’s July 26 stop in New York City in which members Jisoo, Rosé, and Lisa danced to Jisoo’s solo song “Earthquake” while Jennie opted to do the background dancers’ less athletic version. “She was just doing her choreo with the head that last time. I always respect audacity,” Windey said in her video. In the caption, she added, “I think I stan Jennie.”

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 Fans are on defense as multiple theories about her onstage performance continue to spread online.