Monday marked the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. And while we got Lil Nas X clowning us with his giant scroll speech and Lizzo being an absolute queen, there was a distinct absence of one thing — BTS.
That’s not to say the massively popular group didn’t win any awards. Oh no, they cleaned up, taking home “Best Group,” as well as the newly minted “Best K-pop” category for their single “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey. But the wins, while expected, were bittersweet for their fanbase, the BTS ARMY.
Fans had been vocal about the creation of an entirely new category dedicated to K-pop. As with the controversial award show history of separating categories like “Latin Pop” and “R&B,” many felt the VMAs were preventing BTS from being successful among other mainstream players in the music industry, despite their ability to garner millions of music video views on YouTube. ARMY quickly called the VMAs out for their gatekeeping of non-white artists, trending tags such as #VMAsRacist and #VMAsXenophobic. Read more…
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