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SCREEN CAPTURE / MSNBC BTS held a brief press briefing before meeting with President Biden. |
For a brief period Tuesday, the White House was the center of the BTS universe as the world's most popular K-pop band met with the most powerful leader in the world.
The seven-member boy band visited the White House to share their message against the anti)Asian epidemic.
Before meeting President Biden, the group met with the White House press corps
"Today is the last day of AANHPI Heritage Month, we join the White House to stand with the AANHPI community and to celebrate," band member Kim Seok-jin said through a translator.
The translator interpreted for Jimin, who said, "We were devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes including Asian American hate crimes. To put a stop on this and support the cause, we'd like to take this opportunity to voice ourselves once again."
"It’s not wrong to be different. I think equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences," added Suga.
The White House’s official video of a BTS-less briefing last Thursday, for instance, had garnered fewer than 16,000 total YouTube views as of Tuesday afternoon.
The White House’s official video of a press briefing usualy garners about 16,000 viewers. As BTS took the sstage, viewership shot up to 310,000.
BTS' meeting with the President in the Oval Office was closed to general media apparently because Biden's social media team wanted exclusive coverage.
During the brief meeting, the group expressed their dismay at the continuing hate directed at AANHPI and thanked him for signing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act earlier this year.
In return, the President thanked BTS for their work and the use of their enormous platform to work against the anti-Asian attacks and xenophobia.
The group's visit with Biden was the latest example of this White House leveraging the power of celebrities to bring attention to key priorities. Last July, Olivia Rodrigo was enlisted to help promote COVID-19vaccinations.
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