BTS on donating to Black Lives Matter: 'We always want to do what we can to make it a better world'

BTS and their fans made headlines in the summer when the K-pop group donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter cause and their fans, dubbed the Army, matched the group’s efforts a mere 25 hours later. Now, in an interview with Variety , the seven-piece have spoken about why they decided to donate, and have opened up about the prejudice they've faced in their careers, most notably when abroad. “When we’re abroad or in other situations, we’ve also been subjected to prejudice. We feel that prejudice should not be tolerated; it really has no place. We started to discuss what we could do to help, whether it was a donation or something else. That’s where the conversation began – just trying to see what we could do to try to alleviate this prejudice,” said Jin. RM added: "It was a decision we thought about very carefully: what could we do as part of our overall message of speaking out against prejudice and violence? We discussed it very carefully with the company and that's how this came about." The group also say they don't view themselves as political figures, but that "everything is political eventually". "I don't want to speak in political terms. Ours are initiatives that any person who wishes to live in a just world would want to pursue. We aren't trying to send out some grandiose message," said Suga. "[With regard to supporting Black Lives Matter], I think it's very simple really. It's about us being against racism and violence. Most people would be against these things. We have experienced prejudice as well ourselves. We just want to voice the fact that we feel it's the right of everyone to not be subjected to racism or violence." Around the time the donation was made, BTS posted a simple message on their Twitter account standing with Black Lives Matter supporters in their American audience. "We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence," they wrote in English and Korean. "You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together. #BlackLivesMatter." J-Hope said: "We always want to do what we can to make it a better world, whether in Korea or elsewhere, and go in as much of a positive direction as we can, whether through our music or charity." The group have also given speeches at the United National General Assembly, most recently being invited to speak by the Group of Friends of Solidarity for Global Health Security about the difficulties future generations will face because of the pandemic. "Our goal, and what we really want to see, is for everyone to be able to lead safe lives. That's the motivation for donating to BLM or our Unicef campaign and other initiatives," said RM. "What we really want to focus on now is that a lot of young people around the world are suffering because of the pandemic. We feel that what we can and should do is try to give hope and energy to people – everyone, but young people, especially – suffering from this pandemic."

BTS on donating to Black Lives Matter: 'We always want to do what we can to make it a better world'

The K-pop group made headlines after the band donated $1 million to the cause and the sum was matched by their fans