NEW YORK (1010 WINS) --The Grammy-nominated K-pop group, BTS, spoke at the White House press briefing on Tuesday marking the last day of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
All seven members, dressed in black suits, stood at the podium and gave a brief speech following Karine Jean-Pierre's introduction.
“We were devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes, including Asian American hate crimes," Jimin, a band member, addressed the room in Korean and an interpreter translated. “To put a stop to this and support the cause, we’d like to take this opportunity to voice ourselves once again.”
The group arrived at the White House to discuss Asian inclusion and representation, and to address anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination which have become more prominent issues in recent years.
“It's not wrong to be different. Equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences,” Suga, a band member, said.
President Biden has responded to the spike in Asian hate crimes by signing the COVID-19 Crimes Act last May. The law aimed to improve state and local law enforcement’s access to hate crime reports. BTS’ visit follows President Biden’s return from his first trip to Asia as President, which included meetings with newly elected South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
We are still "surprised that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people around the world transcending languages and cultural barriers," Jung-kook, the youngest band member, said. "We believe music is always an amazing and wonderful unifier of all things."
While BTS was exiting the press room, someone among the crowd yelled, “BTS FIGHTING!,” which the group in return with smiles and thanked in Korean. The group did not take any questions following their speech.
The group will create "digital content" for White House social media channels, according to a White House official.
BTS will also meet with President Joe Biden later in the day to discuss Asian inclusion and representation and to address anti-Asian hate crimes and disinformation surrounding it. Their meeting with Biden in the Oval Office will be closed to reporters.
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