What’s up?
It’s Sussan Mourad here with Clevver News and BTS has spoken out in support of the Black
Lives Matter movement in a new tweet on their official account.
Over the past few weeks many celebs and fans have been using their platforms, big and small,
to speak out against racial inequalities after the wrongful death of George Floyd.
And K Pop fans in particular have been using their voices in a big way.
They have taken over racist hashtags like #WhiteLivesMatter and #WhiteOutWednesday with
fancams to keep any messages not in line with the Black Lives Matter movement from being
spread online.
And additionally K Pop fans were responsible for shutting down a Dallas Police app where
people could report quote "illegal activity from the protests."
K Pop fans flooded the app with fancams to help protect the identity of Black Lives Matter
protestors.
And now, one of the biggest K Pop groups in the world with one of the biggest fandoms
in the world is speaking up and using their massive platform.
BTS took to Twitter and tweeted in both Korean and English saying quote, “We stand against
racial discrimination.
We condemn violence.
You, I and we all have the right to be respected.
We will stand together.
#BlackLivesMatter”
Also, according to the Korean outlet Newsis, the band is also making a donation to Black
Lives Matter groups.
And Seventeen Magazine reported that their entertainment company, BigHit, also released
a statement saying quote, "We are in the process of making a donation.
Since we are still in the process of sending money, we are still unable to reveal the donor
and the amount of money."
It hasn’t been announced whether or not BTS plans to share the organizations and amounts
they are donating later on, but the band has been known to make sizable private donations
in the past both as individuals and as a group.
And many BTS ARMY members were happy to see the band speak out on the Black Lives Matter
movement, so much so that "I stan the right group," was trending early this morning.
Fans were tweeting things like “they tweeted in korean with an english translation so no
one can twist their words, they know how the f***ing media works.
i stan the right group and i don't regret anything.”
Another person chimed in saying quote, “THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING UP!
I am so proud to have a message from my trusted buddies!
I stan the right group! we purple you!
They're legends”
And this fan pointed out that the band's latest tweet echoes a previous speech that RM gave
at the UN in 2018.
They wrote quote, “I want to hear your voice...
No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin colour, gender identity: speak yourself.”
-Kim Namjoon @ UN speech.
WE WILL STAND TOGETHER!!!
#BlackLivesMatter I STAN THE RIGHT GROUP”
But some others weren’t as thrilled with the “I stan the right group” trend as
it was filling some people’s feeds with content that weren’t direct resources connected
to the Black Lives Matter movement.
And people were also concerned that it felt like it was making a trend out of a very serious
topic.
One person wrote quote, “a big f*** you to everybody who is saying “i stan the right
group”. you wanna boast about your faves speaking up for my people while you don’t
even support my people.
y’all are using our struggles to hype your idols and i’m tired.”
Another added quote, “F*** this “ I stan the right group” s***.
Half of y’all didn’t even care about BLM until they said it or refused to do ANYTHING
if the boys didn’t say anything.
I’m glad they said something I really am but I hope they say more on Saturday.
But honestly, it’s just said seeing that majority of y’all can’t do shit for yourselves,
you have to have your faves say something in order to do something for a important cause.
Y’all should rethink your life decisions cause that just tells me you can’t think
for yourself”
And this fan wrote quote, “at least if you're tweeting "i stan the right group" can we all
continue to share petitions, donation links, and other resources.
i dont want the important stuff to get lost in the feed.
come on army!”
And in case you are looking for those kinds of resources, we’ve linked some resources
and places to donate down in the description below.
Here at Clevver we also want to make it clear that we stand with our black co-workers, friends,
viewers and everyone else impacted in this fight for change.
And we will continue to cover these stories and have these conversations because this
is only just the beginning.
Please take a moment and click right over here to watch this video to know why this
issue is so important to us here at Clevver.
And feel free to keep the conversation going down in the comments below and share your
thoughts about BTS’ statement.
I’m your host, Sussan Mourad, bye guys!