Another member, Suga, called for tolerance. “It’s not wrong to be different. I think equality begins when we open up and accept all of our differences,” she said on the dais of the packed White House briefing room.
Dressed in dark suits and matching ties over white shirts, the seven kings of K-pop arrived in Washington, DC with a serious message.
I believe that equality begins when we open up and accept all our differences
Biden invited them to speak with them “about the inclusion and representation” of Asian people and racist crimes and discrimination against that community, according to the White House.
Racism and violence against Asians have increased in the United States, in a trend that many attribute to the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic.
Donald Trump, Biden’s predecessor Republican leader, frequently referred to the pandemic as “the virus from China,” the country where the first outbreak was detected in 2019, and mocked this deadly virus as “kung flu.”
The most serious incident occurred in the Atlanta area, where a man shot and killed eight people in a massage parlor. Six of them were Asian women.
The White House praised the BTS members as “ambassadors of youth spreading a message of hope and positivity around the world.”
The members of this ‘boyband’, all in their 20s and often wearing earrings and lipstick, have given voice to a generation comfortable with gender fluidity.
In 2021 they recorded record annual revenue of more than 1 billion dollarsthanks to online content and album sales.
Biden, 79, has reached out to young celebrities and online influencers to try to inject some glamor into his team’s messages on health and social issues.
It featured, for example, pop singer Olivia Rodrigo and the Jonas Brothers in campaigns to convince young Americans to get vaccinated against covid-19.