K-pop’s BTS calls for end to rising anti-Asian racism, says it suffered racist abuse

South Korea’s Ok-pop music group BTS referred to as on Tuesday for an finish to anti-Asian racism and stated it had additionally suffered racist abuse which had made them really feel powerless and harm their vanity.

BTS, the primary Ok-pop group to ever obtain a Grammy Award nomination, made the attraction in a press release posted on Twitter together with hashtags #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate.

In an obvious reference to the shootings in Georgia, Atlanta, on March 16, the place six out of eight victims had been Asian, the group wrote: “We ship our deepest condolences to those that have misplaced their liked one.”

The shootings have stoked fears amongst these within the Asian-American Pacific Islander neighborhood, which has reported a spike in hate crimes since March 2020 when then-President Donald Trump started referring to COVID-19 because the “China virus.”

The seven-member BTS, which final 12 months had three No. 1 on the Billboard Scorching 100 chart, additionally stated they’d confronted racist abuse, together with enduring expletives, being mocked for the best way they appear, and being requested why Asians had been talking English.

“Our personal experiences are inconsequential in comparison with the occasions which have occurred over the previous few weeks,” the assertion stated. “However these experiences had been sufficient to make us really feel powerless and chip away our vanity.”

“What is occurring proper now can’t be dissociated from our id as Asians,” BTS wrote. The group additionally stated it condemned violence and stands in opposition to racial discrimination.

Final 12 months BTS donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in help of U.S. protests in opposition to police brutality, prompting their fan base to lift sufficient to match that donation in simply 25 hours.

Reuters