EXCLUSIVE: BTS at the White House excites on-site and online crowds

World famous Korean boyband BTS at the White House press briefing before meeting with President Joe Biden.. INQUIRER/Elton Lugay

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Korean pop phenomenon BTS was like a heat wave that descended on the White House, but unlike the sweltering morning heat that day, their presence was stimulating.

The White House briefing room was unusually packed, with the addition of Korean media outfits following South Korea’s biggest Hallyu stars. They jostled for positions and set up tripods along the center aisle, ignoring and some even arguing with White House staffers who had told them it was off-limits.

At the White House gate, the BTS ARMY was waiting—hundreds of BTS fans from all around America, many young girls with moms in tow, who came to the nation’s capital not necessarily to see President Joe Biden but to support their K-pop idols.

Rasmin Diaz, a Filipina singer based in New York, was one of them. A diehard BTS fan, she took the four-hour trip to Washington, D.C., in hopes of seeing the K-pop group. “I was standing at the gate, together with the hundreds of BTS ARMY who also traveled across the country, in the scorching heat of the sun,” she told INQUIRER.net.

“I admire and love BTS because their massive success has not gone to their heads or bloated their egos. Instead, they have the heart to help the voiceless. It’s amazing that they are also using their success to help lift the spirits of Asian Americans in this season of hate,” Diaz added.

BTS was invited to the White House May 31st to cap the nation’s celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month.

“While many of you may know BTS as Grammy-nominated international icons, they also play an important role as youth ambassadors, promoting a message of respect and positivity,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“After this briefing, they will join President Biden in a discussion about Asian inclusion, representation, and diversity, as well as addressing anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination,” she added.

Kim Nam-joon, better known as RM and the group’s only fluent English speaker, led the roster. “It is a great honor to be invited to the White House today to discuss the important issues of anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian inclusion, and diversity,” he said.

Wearing black suits and black ties that seemed to emphasize each one’s shimmering glass skin, the BTS band members took turns at the podium. After they had all spoken, a Korean interpreter translated the words of Kim Seok-jin, better known as Jin or “Worldwide Handsome” to BTS fans, Park Ji-min or simply Jimin and “Baby Mochi,” Jung Ho-seok or J-Hope, Jeon Jeong-guk who is better known as Jungkook and whom fans refer to as “Golden Maknae,” Min Yoon-gi or Suga and “Genius Suga,” and Kim Tae-hyung or V.

Press photographers shoot a horde of BTS ARMY fans outside the White House gate hoping to catch a glimpse of their fav K-pop band. INQUIRER/Elton Lugay

“Today is the last day of the AANHPI Heritage Month. We join the White House to stand with the AANHPI community and to celebrate,” Jin 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.” imin said.

J-Hope said, “We are here today thanks to our ARMY — our fans worldwide, who have different nationalities and cultures and use different languages. We are truly and always grateful.”

Jungkook said they “still feel surprised that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people around the world, transcending languages and cultural barriers. We believe music is always an amazing and wonderful unifier of all things.”

“It’s not wrong to be different. I think equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences,” Suga chimed in. “Everyone has their own history. We hope today is one step forward to respecting and understanding each and every one as a valuable person,” V added.

Once everyone else had spoken, RM returned to the podium to say: “We thank President Biden and the White House for giving this important opportunity to speak about the important causes, remind ourselves of what we can do as artists.”

The group then left the briefing room without answering media questions, though a few of the band members smiled when someone asked if a world tour was coming.

Breaking news reports noted that more than 310,000 simultaneous viewers tuned into the YouTube livestream of the press briefing last Tuesday, but the number dropped by as much as 200,000 as soon as BTS left the White House briefing room.

Fan impact

For New York lawyer and human rights specialist Elizabeth Cueva, also a diehard BTS fan, the group’s messages at the White House were insightful and inspiring, reminding her of the euphoria she felt after catching a BTS concert last April at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. She considers herself a certifiable BTS ARMY after that outing.

Lawreen Borneo-Egerton (left), Filipina avid fan based in Long Island, N.Y., agrees that BTS’ “Love Yourself, Speak Yourself” theme has had a widespread meaningful impact, especially among teenagers going through depression. CONTRIBUTED

“If you are new to the Army fandom, you will likely be asked, ‘Who is your bias?’ (meaning, who is your favorite?), then it will be followed with, ‘Who is your bias-breaker?’ (meaning who are you willing to break your original fandom over). But the longer you follow the group and get to know more about the members individually, you will like all of them. Hence, the term ‘OT7’ (One True 7) as your bias. This means that one just loves all seven members equally. Being a ‘stan’ means one has become such a passionate and devoted fan. I do not know if I’m already a stan, but I do not follow any other K-pop groups, just BTS,” Cueva told INQUIRER.net.

“BTS has gained global foothold in terms of its fans and followers. It has universal appeal not just because of the catchiness of all its music from all genre and impeccable energy, but deep meaning of their songs in terms of loving one’s self, being brave, not giving up, giving it all (Blood, Sweat and Tears). BTS is like a panacea or an elixir for life,” she added.

Lawreen Borneo-Egerton, another Filipina avid fan who is a FilAm concert staffer based in Long Island, N.Y., agrees that BTS’ “Love Yourself, Speak Yourself” theme has had a widespread meaningful impact, especially among teenagers going through depression.

“What I really do love more about them is their connection to their fans. They make a point to communicate to them through their channels even though they speak in Korean, but then just by looking at their faces, it’s enough already to make your day better because you can laugh with them. But fans do decipher the lyrics and have it translated to English, to find out what’s going on in their [BTS band members] personal lives, from being trainees up to the recent,” Borneo-Egerton said.

She has been a BTS fan for about five years, following the group’s tours via YouTube, since the WINGS tour in 2017 to the release of the “Love Yourself: Answer” album in 2018.

“Now five years later, even seeing what they have been achieving in real time, sometimes you just have a moment where you realize, OMG, look how far they’ve come, OMG, look how they are doing things!” she added.

Meanwhile, Meriel Cabilin, an ambulatory care pharmacy technician based in South San Francisco, California, who founded and is one of the main administrators of the San Francisco Bay Area BTSxARMY, found BTS to be a source of strength “during the darkest moments of my life” and learned self-love by listening to their music.

“We have this saying in the #BTSARMY Community: BTS finds you or you find them when you need them the most,” she told INQUIRER.net. “I think it doesn’t matter what stage you are in your life, what gender you identify as or what your racial background is. Their music will reach out to your heart and make you understand that no matter how different we are from each other, we can still understand each other’s hearts and we never walk alone,” Cabilin said.

Finger hearts

The White House has released a photo of the group posing with Biden at the Oval Office, all showing finger hearts to mark the occasion.

During last Tuesday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre mentioned that Biden’s whole-of-government approach to combat racism, xenophobia and intolerance facing AANHPI communities began during his first week in office “when he issued a presidential memorandum leveraging the power of the federal government to stand against this hate.”

He has followed through with signing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law and an executive order to reestablish the White House Initiative on AANHPI, and funding critical research to prevent and address xenophobia, the White House press secretary said.