UPDATE (6/8): BTS fans — known as the BTS Army — matched the band’s $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter within 24 hours. According to Variety, they raised $1,026,531 over 35,609 donors.
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BTS and their management company Big Hit Entertainment donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter earlier this week, Variety reported Saturday.
While the K-pop superstars didn’t comment on the donation on social media, both Black Lives Matter and Big Hit confirmed the transfer.
Black Lives Matter managing director Kailee Scales told Variety, “Black people all over the world are in pain at this moment from the trauma of centuries of oppression. We are moved by the generosity of BTS and allies all over the world who stand in solidarity in the fight for Black lives.”
Earlier in the week, BTS tweeted in support of the George Floyd protests. “We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together. #BlackLivesMatter,” the group stated.
우리는 인종차별에 반대합니다.
우리는 폭력에 반대합니다.
나, 당신, 우리 모두는 존중받을 권리가 있습니다. 함께 하겠습니다.We stand against racial discrimination.
We condemn violence.
You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together.#BlackLivesMatter— 방탄소년단 (@BTS_twt) June 4, 2020
The $1 million contribution comes after the K-pop fan armies mobilized to help drown out the #WhiteLivesMatter hashtag on social media.
“The idea of spamming these types of white supremacist hashtags came from the idea of spamming the Dallas Police Department app,” Twitter user “Lovely Doya,” a 17-year-old BTS and ONEUS fan from California, told Rolling Stone.
“We did it to protect the people at the protest because K-pop fans agree that they do not deserve to be arrested for gathering to fight for justice. Since this plan was successful, we realized it would work with other things like burying hateful white-supremacist tweets in their own hashtags.”
“Lovely Doya” added, “It’s important to show support because the BLM movement is about bringing justice to all the innocent lives lost at the hands of racist police officers. It is something that myself and countless other K-pop fans believe in, because many of us, including myself, are POC. At the end of the day, we are human before we are K-pop stans.”
On Sunday, BTS will take part in YouTube’s Class of 2020 compilation of graduation commencement speeches, with Barack and Michelle Obama and Lady Gaga also delivering speeches.
