BTS Meet Joe Biden to Discuss Stamping Out Hate Crimes

(Bloomberg) -- Members of K-Pop supergroup BTS said they hoped their meeting Tuesday with President Joe Biden would help bring attention to efforts to curb hate crimes in the US and elsewhere.

“We were devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes, including Asian-American hate crimes,” Jimin, a member of the group, said through a translator. “To put a stop to this and support the cause, we'd like to take this opportunity to voice ourselves, once again.”

BTS members, speaking to reporters from the podium in the White House briefing room before their meeting with Biden, also thanked their global and multicultural fanbase, called ARMY, for their support.

Shares of Hybe Co. Ltd., the company that manages BTS, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, rose prior to the White House visit.

Biden last year signed in to law the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, which expedites reviews of hate crimes related to the pandemic.

While the majority of hate crimes target Black Americans, 2020 marked a 77% increase in crimes and violence directed at people of Asian decent, according to the FBI. About 9,000 incidents were self-reported to group Stop AAPI Hate from March 2020 to June 2021. In March of last year, a gunman killed 8 people -- six of them Asian women -- in and around several spas in Atlanta.

“We hope today is one step forward to respecting and understanding that each and every” person is valuable, said V, one of the other seven band members.

The South Korean music group, comprised of Jimin, V, RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, and JK, are back in the U.S. after performing four sold-out shows in Las Vegas in April, with 200,000 fans attending.

In the nine years since their debut, BTS has racked up record-breaking hits and video views, with the fastest accumulation of No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 since Michael Jackson.

They've won multiple awards and have been nominated for hundreds more, with their global popularity and appeal often compared to that of The Beatles. They won artist of the year at the 2021 American Music Awards, the first Asian act to do so, and were nominated for best pop duo/group performance at this year's Grammy Awards.

BTS and their fanbase have also supported social causes, including raising $2 million for Black Lives Matter.

The group is also an important economic engine for South Korea, adding $4.5 billion to the nation's economy, according to a 2019 report from the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.

The group is releasing an anthology album June 10, a collection of previous hits and three new songs. The title track “Yet to Come” already started trending on Billboard before release.

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