BTS dressed up in black suits and entered the White House, showing their good influence to the world
BTS’s visit to the White House on May 31st (local time) shows how these stars with the world’s strongest fandom spread their good influence to the world.
BTS visited the White House on the last day of the “Asian American and Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month” to meet President Joe Biden and share their opinions on how to respond to anti-Asian hate crimes.
When the group appeared at the briefing meeting with the White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre before the interview to explain the purpose of their visit, BTS drew attention with their neat fashion of matching black suits with white shirts.
Starting with leader RM, the members greeted in the order of Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, Jungkook, Suga, before returning the mic to RM. The members listened with their hands together, and RM, who is well-known for his excellent English, expressed his opinion in fluent English.
“We still feel surprised that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people around the world, transcending languages and cultural barriers,” added Jungkook. “We believe music is always an amazing and wonderful unifier of all things.”
Suga expressed his thoughts, “It’s not wrong to be different. The quality begins when we open up and embrace our differences.”
After the briefing, RM moved to meet with President Biden and said “Thank you” in Korean to the reporters.
This is not the first time that BTS has spoken out about international issues beyond Korea. Their good influence grew as they became the first Korean singer to top the Billboard main single chart “Hot 100” with their hit song “Dynamite” in 2020 and topped the global market, including the U.S., with “Butter” last year.
At the Sustainable Development Goals Moment event held at the UN General Assembly in New York in September last year during the pandemic, BTS stressed the need for vaccination, saying, “Vaccination is like a must-have ticket for us to meet fans who are waiting for us, and to be able to come here.”
At that time, BTS attended the UN conference as “special presidential envoy for future generations and culture” and world youth representatives to send their message of filling daily lives with positive energy even in difficult situations due to the pandemic, saying, “Instead of being afraid of change, this generation says ‘welcome’ as they walk forward into the future.”
In particular, BTS has consistently made a stance on the issue of “Asian Hate”, their theme of the White House visit this time, as they have written new records as Korean and Asian artists for each song released.
In March last year, they also expressed their position on discrimination and hate issues by posting a hashtag on Twitter, expressing how angry they were regarding the hate crimes towards Asian in Western society. At a press conference in Los Angeles in November, RM said, “About Asian hate, we always say this but we have heavy responsibility.”
RM went on to say, “As I said before, I wasn’t born or raised abroad. But as an Asian, I truly felt the wall. So when we talk about Asian hate, our paths are all the awards and our music. We just hope that this can truly help every Asian in the world who live in countries abroad. If there‘s something we can help, or we can be giving of consolations, we are always open and will try to expand our value and stop discrimination.” “As an Asian, through the past years and our paths, and our awards, I truly felt the wall, and the wall can’t be always described as words. Sometimes it’s visible, sometimes it’s invisible,” he pointed out.
Suga also joined in, “I’m grateful that there are still barriers to surpass and that I can challenge again.”
BTS also carried out a “Love Myself” campaign alongside UNICEF that conveys hope to the world, as well as participating in the “Black Lives Matter” campaign. BTS’s “good influence” continued not only abroad but also domestically.
Starting with donating 150 million won to the Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation in 2018, J-Hope donated 100 million won to this organization at the end of last year as well, recording a cumulative donation of 800 million won.
When a large forest fire broke out on the east coast of South Korea last year, Suga donated 100 million won to the Hope Bridge National Disaster Relief Association, asking for it to be used for residents in need. In 2020, he also offered 100 million won to help Daegu, which was greatly affected by the mass infection in the early stages of the pandemic.
Big Hit Music, BTS’ agency, introduced, “BTS is spreading the message of hope and positivity to the world with on their global influence.”
Source: Nate
