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BTS fans match K-pop superstars' $1 million Black Lives Matter donation
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SiriusXM Host Mikey Piff poses with K-pop boy band BTS visit the SiriusXM Studios on February 21, 2020 in New York City. (AFP/Cindy Ord)
F
ans of K-pop megastars BTS raised and donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement, matching the septet's donation of the same amount within 24 hours, organizers said Monday.
The band's managers Big Hit Entertainment said at the weekend that they and BTS -- currently one of the biggest acts in the world -- had jointly donated $1 million to the ongoing anti-racism movement in the US and beyond, triggered by the death in police custody of an unarmed black man as an officer knelt on his neck.
"We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence," BTS tweeted last week, which has since been retweeted around 1 million times.
The Big Hit announcement soon sparked a #MatchAMillion hashtag trending worldwide on Twitter, with a set of BTS fans -- One in an Army -- setting up an online donation project for the cause.
On Monday morning, One in an Army announced they had raised just over $1 million from nearly 35,000 donors.
"Just like BTS, we were able to donate 1M dollars to help fund bailouts for those arrested for protesting police brutality," and support black-led advocacy groups, among others, they said on Twitter.
.@BTS_twt fans match BTS' one million dollar donation to Black Lives Matter.
You can download our release here : https://t.co/nbRz6BnYzh#BlackLivesMatter#ARMYMatchedAMillion#2MforBLM pic.twitter.com/kpKia6mBMq
— One in an ARMY⁷ Charity Project 💜 (@OneInAnARMY) June 8, 2020
None of the fan group's organizers are South Korean, according to their website, with most from Europe or North America.
The announcement follows a recent online effort by K-pop fans to take over the controversial #WhiteLivesMatter hashtag, often used by those who criticize the anti-racism protesters, by posting the tag along with videos and images of their favorite singers.
BTS -- or Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates as Bulletproof Boy Scouts -- are the first K-pop group to top charts in the United States and Britain with a string of sold-out shows in Los Angeles, Paris and London's Wembley Stadium.
"I am from London. My mom had to deal with racism all her life," wrote one black BTS fan.
"I'm absolutely proud to tell her the group that... I adore supports us and stand with us."
