EXO‘s Kai has recently come under fire for having a birthday gathering during the third wave of coronavirus cases in South Korea. On his birthday, he held a commemorative live stream via Instagram, sharing with fans.

Although he kept his gathering to a maximum of 4 people including himself, HOTSHOT‘s Moongyu, and VIXX‘s Ravi, netizens were concerned about his misconception of the 4-people rule. Currently, South Korea bans gatherings of more than 4 people to prevent the virus from spreading. However, it does not mean that people should still be gathering as long as it’s under 4 people.

A recent news broadcast alerted people that small gatherings are also dangerous and the ban does not indicate that 4 people gatherings are still fine.

Netizens have commented in a similar vein, stating that “Given that Kai mentioned it’s okay to do whatever as long as it’s up to 4 people in his live stream, I think that there are many people that are misunderstanding that it’s okay to play and have parties as long as it’s kept to 4 people. Please… I’m seeing so many tags on regular people’s Instagrams as well like #It’sNot5 and #4Only. What would the people who lost their jobs and are having it hard due to the virus think of it? I like Kai but shielding him weirdly won’t help the situation. He’ll get more backlash. Please don’t think of this lightly.”

Kai started early into his live that “it’s okay up to 4 people, whatever it is“, bringing upon backlash that he should not have considered that as something so simple.

The statement can be seen around the 40-second mark of his live stream below.

Others have agreed, claiming that his statement that anything under 4 people is okay, should not be one that can be spoken so easily.

Despite the public’s good sentiments about Kai and his kind personality, many are disagreeing with his actions regarding the matter.