The White House press briefing saw a huge spike in viewers when K-pop megastars BTS stopped by to deliver remarks before a meeting with President Joe Biden.
The seven-member sensation, which has shattered records with its popular songs and music videos, drove more than 310,000 simultaneous viewers to tune into a livestream of the press briefing on the White House's YouTube channel. The regularly occurring briefings, which as of late have centered on topics such as inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rarely generate anywhere near the audience size seen Tuesday.
The White House's official video of a briefing last Thursday had less than 16,000 total views as of Tuesday afternoon.
A group of people came to the White House to talk to Biden about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act was signed by Biden last year.
The meeting between Biden and Powell followed the Oval Office confab between the U.S. president and the South Korean boy band. The two were going to discuss the state of the economy and inflation, which the White House calls Biden's top economic priority.
The pop stars, dressed in black suits and black ties, stood behind the press secretary at the start of the press conference.
The number of people watching the White House's video immediately shot up when the briefing kicked off, even as the stream was initially plagued by sound issues.
The group was invited to the White House to discuss the important issues of anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian inclusion and diversity.
He thanked Biden for the opportunity to speak about the important causes and remind us of what we can do as artists.
The other six spoke in their native languages. The band left the room.
The audience quickly checked out. More than 200,000 viewers left the livestream a few minutes after the group left.
The National Economic Council Director Brian Deese sighed after the band left.
He said that he would tell his kids that the band opened for him.
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