BTS ARMY Call Out Billboard For A “Racist” Now-Deleted Tweet

“This is for sure not a mistake.”
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Billboard recently released an article about BTS Suga‘s upcoming new variety show, SuChwiTa. Although the article itself is simply promoting Suga’s solo activities and advertising his first guest RM‘s upcoming solo album Indigo, fans are calling out Billboard for their continued treatment of BTS.

BTS’s Suga | @agustd/Instagram
BTS’s RM | @rkive/Instagram

BTS continually top Billboard‘s charts, showing their incredible global popularity and continuously setting new records.

BTS | @bts_bighit/Twitter

But although BTS and K-Pop as a whole have become more prevalently featured in Billboard‘s charts, K-Pop fans are continually calling out the magazine for discrimination against Korean artists.

Most recently, fans voiced their frustration with Billboard‘s new event, The-K Billboard Awards. Advertised as an event that aims to highlight “the dazzling achievements of K-POP artists based on the Billboard charts,” fans were displeased that Billboard felt it necessary to have a separate award show dedicated to Korean artists.

| @billboard/Instagram

BTS’s ARMY were especially upset due to a statement made by Bik Hwang, the executive director of the 2022 K-Culture Festival, which launched The-K Billboard Awards. Despite BTS being active and continually achieving new levels of success, Bik Hwang suggested that they were looking “to find the next BTS.”

This is part of our mission to find the next BTS. We will not limit our nominees to the festival attendees. Instead, we will strictly adhere to Billboard’s points system and honor winners by visiting their studios if necessary.

— Bik Hwang via The Korea Times

Different K-Pop fandoms have also continually boycotted Billboard‘s magazines. In 2021, ARMY boycotted a magazine that featured an exclusive BTS cover story and photoshoot after the interviewer directly asked BTS about chart manipulation, specifically their fan’s involvement.

Through above-board means, ARMY has long exploited loopholes in music chart rules (including those of Billboard) to propel BTS singles’ performance.

— Billboard

Although BTS fans had hoped that Billboard‘s article would highlight BTS’s immense success, they found the actual interview questions unacceptable, arguing that Billboard wouldn’t have asked any other artists those types of questions.

| @bts_bighit/Twitter

Now BTS ARMY are again calling out Billboard, not for content in the article about Suga’s new variety show, but for the initial image Billboard used. Rather than using a picture of BTS’s Suga, Billboard tweeted the article, which featured an image of GOT7‘s Youngjae.

Billboard‘s now-deleted tweet | @namjoonlibreria/Twitter

As of now, Billboard has deleted the tweet and changed the image to one of Suga from PROOF.

But ARMY, who are well-practiced at taking quick screenshots, are frustrated by the wrong image, believing that given how many times Billboard has covered BTS, there should be no excuse for using a wrong image.

Fans are calling out Billboard for “being racist [toward] and mistreating” BTS, given the pattern of “disrespect.”

And although the tweet has been deleted, fans still demand answers from Billboard.

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