The Korean boyband visited the White House on Tuesday, ramping up their boyband diplomacy from speaking engagements at the UN to political activism against anti-Asian hate crimes.
On the last day of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Korean septet visited. President Joe Biden shared a minute-long clip of his private meeting with the group, which showed the seven men in matching black-and-white suits being ushered into the Oval Office.
—President Biden (@POTUS) June 1, 2022
A lot of our Asian-American friends have been subject to discrimination. When people talk about how bad it is, it goes down.
The leader of the band said he was thankful for the signing of the Hate Crimes Act by Biden.
—BTS_official (@bts_bighit) June 1, 2022
The White House and the government are trying to find solutions, and we just want to be a little help.
Before meeting Biden, the group attended a press briefing where they spoke about how grateful they were for the chance to advocate for the cause.
The band members were devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes in the US, said Jimin at the press conference.
Min Yoongi Suga, known by his stage name, said it was not wrong to be different. I believe that equality begins when we embrace all of our differences.
The live press briefing was watched by more than 300,000 people at one point, which far exceeded the hundreds of viewers that usually tune in to such streams.
The boy band appeared at the White House lectern, but not everyone was a fan of it.
Tucker Carlson, a right-wing pundit, hit out at the group, playing a clip of their speech and commenting: "So we got a Korean pop group to discuss anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States." Okay. Good job, guys.
The group's visit to the White House marks a new era in their transition from special diplomatic envoys to political activists taking a harder stance on social issues. The band called for an end to violence against Asian Americans in March of 2021.
In July of last year, the band members were appointed as South Korea's presidential envoys.
They were given diplomatic passports after they were sworn in and attended international conferences like the 76th United Nations General Assembly and The Met for an official visit.
The group had previously spoken out against domestic violence during a UN meeting.