It’s no surprise that many people—even those who aren’t fans—know about Bam, Jungkook’s Doberman, who has been famous ever since his first appearance with Jungkook in October 2021 on In The Soop Season 2. Notably, Bam even has his own Instagram account with 7.8 million followers, because Jungkook’s father—who doesn’t like using Instagram—willingly created an account solely to “show off his son,” just like any enthusiastic pet owner would.

It has been quite a while since ARMY received any updates about Bam due to Jungkook’s two years of military service. Bam’s social media accounts, including Instagram and YouTube, were also put on hold. As a result, fans have been eagerly waiting for the day Bam might reappear on one of Jungkook’s livestreams so they could see how he’s doing.

While fans were patiently waiting, some negative actors—seemingly eager to escalate the situation and fuel the recent wave of malicious attacks against Jungkook—began spreading claims that Bam had remained at a training center even after Jungkook was discharged. What’s more ѕнσ¢кing is that some of the posts condemning Jungkook included absurd accusations such as: “Jungkook… why haven’t you brought Bam home yet?” and “This has been suspicious for a long time… He brought his aunt home, his childhood friend home, and even his (new!) girlfriend home. But not his own dog—the one he calls his son? Seriously, what is he doing?”

Another post also drew attention by quoting Jungkook’s remarks from December 2023, when he said: "Through my acquaintances, I found a place that can provide care for Bam, and he seems to be doing much better there. On one hand, I think that during times I can't really take care of Bam, it would be better to have this place take care of him, with me just coming by often to visit him. Because I go abroad so often, I honestly can't fully take care of Bam. But fortunately, Bam doesn't have any separation anxiety towards me. He really likes the people taking care of him there, and he has lots of friends there too.

It's good that soмєтнing like that exists. But anyways, what I'm trying to say is, if you really want a dog but don't have the means to take care of it, it's better not to get one at all. I've been through that situation now, and it's really soмєтнing you shouldn't do to a dog. Honestly, I feel very sorry about it, but I am thankful he's still happy even though I can't visit him very often."

Taking advantage of the fact that many people didn’t fully understand the context of these statements, the original poster twisted the narrative, accusing Jungkook of subtly justifying the fact that he had wanted to abandon his dog for a long time—painting him as irresponsible. These posts led to an outpouring of harsh criticism, including comments like:

- But BTS isn’t even active right now? They haven’t had a comeback, so why can’t he bring the dog home?

- He paid to abandon it. He knew he deserved criticism, so that’s why he rambled like that

- I don’t really care about celebrity drama, so I never commented on his other controversies… but did he seriously get a dog tattoo after abandoning his own dog?

- From the beginning, it seemed like he only got Bam to look cool. Large dogs aren’t easy to raise, so I wondered how he’d handle it later.

- He has the time and dedication to follow his girlfriend to her concerts because he has nothing else to do, but he doesn’t have the time and dedication to take care of his own dog. I see

- I feel so bad for Bam. He’s a large dog, so it won’t be easy for others to take care of him. In the end, he’ll just miss his owner for the rest of his life and ∂ιє alone.

- Just give him up for adoption. There are plenty of people who would love him and take good care of him.

Facing this wave of false and malicious accusations about Jungkook’s relationship with Bam, ARMYs couldn’t stay silent. They quickly pointed out that the claims suggesting Jungkook didn’t bring Bam home after his discharge—or intended to abandon him—were completely baseless from the start.

First, regarding Jungkook’s earlier comments: they were made during the busiest time of his career—right after releasing his solo album and just before enlistment—when he genuinely had no way to raise a dog himself. Sending Bam to a professional care center was clearly the most reasonable decision. For years before that, Bam had also alternated between home and the training center whenever Jungkook had overseas schedules.

It is important to note that Dobermans are different from most companion dogs—they require structured training from a young age, plenty of space to exercise, and consistent time with their owner. A training facility with professional trainers and an appropriate environment is the best possible option Jungkook could have chosen for Bam.

Second, in a livestream at the end of August, Jungkook had already updated fans on Bam’s current condition. With visible emotion, he shared that Bam had been injured and was receiving treatment: “Bam is doing well. He’s doing super well. Bam must be so hurt, I’m so sad. They don’t know when his disc was injured. They’re caring for him well so he’s doing much better now.”

Third, just four days after being discharged, Jungkook traveled to New Zealand and Vietnam with Jimin for 12 days to film Are You Sure 2. Immediately afterward, starting in early July, he and the BTS members flew to the U.S. for two months of work. He had no time to rest in кσяєα, let alone bring Bam home, though he still monitored Bam’s condition closely.

Notably, during a spontaneous livestream in late September, Bam was seen α¢¢ι∂єитally appearing on camera. In the video, Jungkook’s voice could be heard saying, “Bam Bam… Wait… wait!” along with a clattering noise, as if the dog was moving around on the floor. What does this mean? As soon as Jungkook completed his schedules and had a proper break, he immediately brought Bam home to care for him.

If someone claims that a dog’s owner has abandoned him after discharge, then why does Jungkook know every detail about Bam’s injury—and why did Bam appear at his home just one month after recovering? Clearly, these accusers simply wanted to distort the truth to worsen the superstar’s image amid a surge of malicious attacks against him.

At this point, ARMYs began to believe that the smear campaigns targeting Jungkook since early this month were part of a paid campaign, carefully planned long in advance, aiming to sabotage BTS’s return—while Jungkook is conveniently framed as the “easy culprit.” ARMYs are determined not to let bad actors achieve their goals so easily.

In response, the fandom quickly issued a call to action consisting of two key points:

- Absolute support for BTS: stream music, boost search rankings, trend positive hashtags, and send messages of love to Jungkook and the members on social media.

- No interaction with negativity: haters crave attention, so the best response is to report, block, and ignore.

In addition, in recent days, fans have also sent support trucks to the entrance of HYBE carrying messages of encouragement for Jungkook, emphasizing “BTS is 7” and urging HYBE to take real action to protect its artists.