On May 31, BTS’s Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook appeared at the White House as part of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AANHPI Heritage Month). During the Korean band’s visit, the members spoke briefly at an official press conference at the White House and met with President Joe Biden. While BTS’s visit with Biden was not open to the press, Biden later shared some of the meeting on social media.
President Joe Biden shares some of his meetings with BTS
BTS’s meeting with Biden took place in the Oval Office at 3pm EST after a press conference with press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre.
According to a press release, the meeting lasted for 35 minutes, and “BTS and President Biden had a conversation about hate crimes against Asia and Asian integration, and talked about President Biden’s recent visit to South Korea.”
While BTS’s conversation with Biden was not shown to the press in real time, Biden later Post a video Meeting on social media.
“This is an important month here in America. A lot of our Asian American friends have experienced real discrimination. The hate just hides. When the good people talk about it and say how bad it is, it goes down,” Biden told the BTS members in the video.
BTS’s RM responded on behalf of the group, saying, “We want to thank you, sincerely, for your decision like signing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. So we just want to offer a little help and really appreciate the White House and the government’s attempt to find solutions.”
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BTS spoke at a press conference at the White House
Before their meeting with Biden, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook participated in a press conference at the White House. The band did not receive questions from reporters, but each member made a statement. Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook all spoke in Korean, and RM concluded the BTS briefing in English.
“Today is the last day of AANHPI Heritage Month. We have joined the White House to stand with the AANHPI community and to celebrate,” Jane shared.
Jimin added, “We have been devastated by the recent rise in hate crimes including hate crimes against Asians. To put an end to this and support the cause, we would like to take this opportunity to express ourselves once again.”
J-Hope then shared, “We can be here today thanks to ARMY, our fans all over the world who have different nationalities and cultures, and use different languages. We are really grateful.”
“We are still amazed that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people all over the world, transcending barriers in all areas including language and culture. We believe that music is always a wonderful unifier of all things,” Jungkook said.
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Suga added, “It is not wrong to be different. Equality begins with opening up and embracing all differences.”
“Everyone has their own history. We hope that today will be a step forward to respect and understand each individual as a person of value,” said F.
RM concluded, “Finally, we thank President Biden and the White House for giving us this important opportunity to speak out for important causes and remind ourselves of what we can do as artists. Thank you very much.”
More BTS meetings will be shared with President Joe Biden
While the video that Biden posted on social media is less than a minute long, the president promised to release more of his encounters with BTS at a later time.
“It was great meeting you, bts_bighit. Thank you for everything you are doing to raise awareness about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination. I look forward to sharing more of our conversation soon,” the president tweeted.
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