"He could have just ignored"- ATEEZ's Wooyoung sparks debate after refusing to do BLACKPINK Jennie's 'Like Jennie' dance challenge

On March 30, 2025, ATEEZ’s Wooyoung found himself at the center of an online debate after refusing to participate in the viral Like Jennie dance challenge.

During a live broadcast, he noticed fans asking him to do the challenge in the comments. Instead of engaging, he responded with a direct reference to ATEEZ’s fandom:

"I'm not doing 'Like Jennie' challenge. Aren’t you ATINY?"

A clip of his reaction quickly spread across social media and sparked a wave of discussions. One particular post on X gathered over nine million views.

Some believed Wooyoung could have simply ignored the request instead of making a statement, while others supported his decision.

Critics, especially BLACKPINK’s fans, felt that he could have simply avoided the comment. An X user, @notabear17, wrote:

"he could have just ignored the question but that's just me."

Many believed that Wooyoung was dismissing Jennie’s challenge unnecessarily and bringing negativity toward her.

They argued that Wooyoung could have handled the situation more tactfully rather than outright refusing on a public platform.

"Sit down boy... You're overestimating yourself," an X user wrote.

"Could have easily ignored the comments asking for the dance or if he was THAT bothered directly took that with the choreographer. Very immature and weird bringing her into their bulls*it," another netizen added.

"shading someone he got beef with using another idols song he needs to shut up embarrassing as hell," a person remarked.

"He could've just skipped the question and ignore it but he decided name dropping jennie instead the choreographer aka vata guy like he's such an attention seeker idc," a user commented.

However, many ATEEZ fans defended him. They explained that Wooyoung's response was not aimed at Jennie but rather at the challenge's choreographer, Vata.

They pointed out that Vata had previously been accused of plagiarizing ATEEZ’s choreography for the song Say My Name in 2022.

They argued that this connection made it clear why Wooyoung wanted no part in the challenge.

"Stop getting so offended over him simply naming the song/challenge title. Y'all can't be serious about that. It's not his fault her name is in the song bc SHE named it that way. Some fan asked him about it and he responded. Simple. No twisted meaning or intention. It's over," a fan mentioned.

"if only vata didn't choreographed the song we could have had the challenge," an X user added.

"think of it this way blinks (who have a issue with woo). if someone stole bp’s choreo, claimed it as theirs, didn’t apologize or take accountability then proceeded to choreograph another idols dance, would you want bp to do said idols dance challenge?," another netizen commented.

"“why is he name dropping jennie?” her name is literally in the song title so tf yall want him to say? “like [muted] challenged”? yall are ridiculous," a fan wrote.

---

All we know about ATEEZ's Wooyoung and Vata controversy

In 2022, Vata, a well-known dancer and leader of the We Dem Boyz (WDBZ) crew, created choreography for Zico’s song New Thing. This was a part of the dance competition show Street Man Fighter.

His routine featured a signature "driving" move. The move closely resembled a key sequence from ATEEZ’s Say My Name.

This led to accusations of plagiarism as one of ATEEZ’s choreographers, Anze Skrube publicly called him out. Many fans and dance professionals also criticized Vata for not crediting the original creators.

During the same time, Wooyoung subtly acknowledged the controversy at the time by performing a “biting” gesture. It is an arm-on-arm gesture used by dancers to call out copied moves.

Wooyoung did it during an ATEEZ concert. Despite the backlash, Vata never formally apologized. The issue remained a sore point for ATEEZ and their fans.

Given this history, Wooyoung’s refusal to do the Like Jennie challenge was interpreted as his way of taking a stand against Vata rather than disrespecting Jennie.

ATEEZ is an eight-member K-pop group under KQ Entertainment. The group recently completed their TOWARDS THE LIGHT: WILL TO POWER world tour where they performed in sold-out arenas across multiple continents.

---

Their latest album, Golden Hour: Part 1, has topped international charts. It also earned praise for its sound and storytelling.