K-pop boy band BTS donates $1 mn to Black Lives Matter in support of protests against racial injustice, police brutality

Popular South Korean band BTS donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in support of US protests against police brutality and racial injustice, its music label, Big Hit Entertainment, told Reuters on Sunday.

On Thursday, the seven-member BTS wrote on its Twitter account that they are against racism and violence with the hashtag BlackLivesMatter:

BTS did not comment on the donation, but it was also confirmed by Black Lives Matter managing director Kailee Scales. Black people all over the world are in pain at this moment from the trauma of centuries of oppression. We are moved by the generosity of BTS and allies all over the world who stand in solidarity in the fight for Black lives," she told Variety .

The hashtag went viral among the K-pop group’s fans and started another wave of donations with a new hashtag, MatchAMillion.

The movement encouraged BTS’ fan base, known as ARMY, an acronym for Adorable Representative MC for Youth, to match the $1 million donation the group made.

One Twitter account said, “ARMYs, let’s #MatchAMillion with BTS’s donation to #BlackLivesMatter!”

K-pop fans have been participating in the BLM movement online and offline. On 1 June, after the Dallas Police Department asked Texas citizens to share videos of any “illegal activity” from the ongoing protests, K-pop fans overwhelmed the force’s app with fan cams. Eventually the force had to take the app down citing “technical difficulties”, writes Screen Rant.

The boyband suspended their world tour over coronavirus concerns in April.

The rolling, global protests reflect rising anger over police treatment of ethnic minorities, sparked by the 25 May killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white officer detaining him knelt on his neck.

(With inputs from Reuters)