BTS members at the White House Press Briefing
BTS members joined the White House Press Briefing before their private meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss anti-Asian hate crimes.
There is no stopping BTS. After cementing their place in the music industry, dominating charts and delivering powerful speeches at the UN, the South Korean boyband attended the White House Press briefing on May 31, before meeting Joe Biden to discuss anti-Asian hate crimes. The septet expressed their views at the White House Press Room in the presence of media personnel. The opening statement was made by group leader Kim Namjoon aka RM and was followed by the rest of them. Besides expressing their concerns, the members also thanked the White House for the invite they received to discuss such an important issue.
RM began by saying, “Hi we’re BTS and it is a great honour to be invited to the White House today to discuss the important issues of Anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian inclusion and diversity.” He then handed over the podium to the eldest member Kim Seokjin who said, as translated by the interpreter, “Today is the last day of the AANHPI heritage month. We joined the White House to stand with the AANHPI community and to celebrate.”
Jimin continued, “We were devastated about the recent surge of hate crimes including Asian-American hate crimes. To put a stop to this and to support the cause we’d like to take this opportunity to voice ourselves once again.”
J-Hope also thanked ARMYs in his speech and said that their fans all over the world have different nationalities ad cultures and they are always grateful. He was followed by the youngest member Jungkook who said they are still surprised that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people around the world. “We still feel surprised that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people around the world, transcending languages and cultural barriers. We believe music is always an amazing and wonderful unifier of all things,” the Golden Maknae said.
Rapper Suga contained that it is not wrong to be different and equality begins when we open up and embrace all our differences. V said “Everyone has their own history. We hope today is one step forward to respecting and understanding each and everyone as a valuable person.” The closing statement was made by RM who thanked President Joe Biden and the White House for inviting them and giving them this opportunity to speak about this important issue and remind themselves of what artists can do.
This was followed by BTS’ private meeting with US President Joe Biden.
