K-Pop giants BTS have made a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter amid the worldwide protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN on May 25th.
The donation came just days after the group released a statement supporting the movement and condemning police violence: “We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence,” they wrote in a post to the band’s Twitter page. They continued, “You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together. #BlackLivesMatter.”
Black Lives Matter said of the generous donation in a statement to Variety, “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.”
If the million-dollar donation wasn’t enough, the group’s fanbase, BTS Army, showed its devotion to the band and cause by matching the contribution.
The fanbase’s official account noted in a statement on Twitter:
Just like BTS, we were able to donate 1M dollars to help fund:
– Bailouts for those arrested for protesting police brutality
– black-led advocacy orgs fighting against systemic injustice
– support for the physical and mental health of the black community
Just like BTS, we were able to donate 1M dollars to help fund:
💠bailouts for those arrested for protesting police brutality
💠black-led advocacy orgs fighting against systemic injustice
💠support for the physical and mental health of the black commmunity— One in an ARMY⁷ Charity Project 💜 (@OneInAnARMY) June 8, 2020
The BTS Army didn’t stop there, however. While the monetary contributions and statements of solidarity helped immensely, the rabid fans also took the opportunity to troll those who use the #WhiteLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter, #AllLivesMatter, and #MAGA hashtags on social media. Instead of seeing racist, pro-police, and pro-Trump content, the hashtags were flooded with videos, GIFs, and memes of various K-pop artists.
Kpop fans are taking over M*GA and pro-police hashtags and crashing law enforcement snitch apps and it’s beautiful https://t.co/h2HzGj9MEx pic.twitter.com/uUPgHOu76W
— Laura Hudson (@laura_hudson) June 3, 2020
Anonymous stans ALL KPop allies!
HACK THE PLANET!— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) June 3, 2020
Nothing like a bit of karmic justice.
[H/T Consequence of Sound]