Korean band BTS appears at a daily press conference with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Brady’s White House press briefing in Washington, DC on May 31, 2022, while visiting to discuss inclusion and Asian representation and addressing the fight against Asian hate crimes and discrimination.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
A White House press conference on Tuesday saw a massive increase in viewers as K-pop BTS megastars stopped to comment before a meeting with President Joe Biden.
The seven-member sensation, which has broken records with its popular songs and music videos, prompted more than 310,000 simultaneous viewers to tune in to a live broadcast of the press conference on the White House YouTube channel. Regularly held briefings, which have recently focused on issues such as inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, seldom come close to the size of Tuesday’s hearing.
The official White House video of a BTS-free news session last Thursday, for example, had garnered less than 16,000 total views on YouTube as of Tuesday afternoon.
BTS came to the White House to talk to Biden about Asian inclusion and representation and to discuss a sharp rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in recent years. Biden signed the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act last year to try to address this trend.
The Oval Office conversation between the President of the United States and the South Korean Children’s Band was to follow a meeting between Biden and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The two were scheduled to discuss the state of the economy and inflation, which the White House calls Biden’s “top economic priority.”
The pop stars, dressed in black dresses and almost identical black ties, stood behind press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the lectern in the James Brady newsroom at the start of the briefing on Tuesday afternoon. .
The number of people watching the White House video skyrocketed immediately when the briefing began, although the flow was initially affected by sound issues.
“Hello, we are BTS, and 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,” the RM group leader told crowd. of journalists in English.
He also thanked Biden for his “important opportunity to talk about important causes [and] remind us what we can do as artists. “
The other six members each spoke Korean. The band did not ask any questions and left the room.
Much of the audience was checked out just as quickly. Within minutes of the group’s departure, more than 200,000 viewers had left the live broadcast.
“Okay,” said National Economic Council director Brian Deese with a sigh after the band left, causing laughter.
“So I have to go home and tell my kids that BTS has opened up to me,” he said.