BTS: Member Of A.R.M.Y. Uploads Letters Of Apologies To Various Fandoms On Behalf Of All The A.R.M.Y.

As of this moment, Bangtan Boys of Bulletproof Boy Scouts, better known in the K-pop community as BTS, are sitting on top of the K-pop world. Over the past four months, BTS has dominated the music charts, especially with their latest mini-album The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Forever Young, which is technically a “greatest hits remixed” album with three new songs.

Out of those new songs, however, “Fire” is making waves for the K-pop boy group as it ranked No. 1 on iTunes Music Video Chart. Even before that, BTS was so popular among social media that they were the most retweeted artist on Twitter earlier this year. They were actually more popular than American music acts like Kanye West and Justin Bieber.

The most prominent testament to just how dominant BTS has been not only the past four months but in previous years is the fact Big Hit Entertainment had more albums sold than both YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, two of the big three. This does not sound like such a big deal until one finds out that BTS is technically the only musical act currently signed with Big Hit Entertainment.

In the end, BTS has one group of people to thank for their success because without them, they would go nowhere: their fans known as the A.R.M.Y. K-pop fans who identify themselves as such do their best to promote the group everywhere they go, buy their songs, buy their albums, vote for them during awards, and promote them socially. Unfortunately, certain members of the A.R.M.Y. can also be insensitive and at times downright mean towards other popular K-pop groups and their fandom groups. That is why one member of the A.R.M.Y. is writing letters of apologies to them and spreading it across social media.

On behalf of all my non ARMY followers and friends, you have my sincerest apologies! #BTS #FIRE pic.twitter.com/T3tzj4yTpv

— ? Nat ? (@ditzynat) May 1, 2016

According to AllKpop, the A.R.M.Y. member for BTS stepped forward to write on behalf of the rest of the fandom in light of numerous controversies with lengthy apologies (all apologies available through the link). The apologies have spread like a pandemic on various online communities and online social circles. The letter towards SHINee is posted below as a reference.

“Hello, this is BTS’s fan club, ARMY.

Before I start, the person writing this right now will represent all ARMYs in relaying this letter of apology to those of SHINee World.

Not too long ago, many different sites, including Nate Pann, kept posting content stating that BTS plagiarized SHINee. There were a couple thousands of comments posted onto Pann, showing how much impact it had. Among those, our fandom left strong criticism, cursing out your family, making personal offenses, and other speech for which I apologize firstly in this writing.

I acknowledge that our fandom’s first course of action was poor and thoughtless. While verbal warfare was raging on, we were spitting out a lot of things like provocative words to one another, and through our bias, there was no distinguishing what was wrong and what aspects we had to acknowledge and apologize for. We now concede to everything that we’ve done wrong, and we apologize.

The apology we promised was given later than we thought for which we also apologize. It took a lot of time because we had been unable to mediate on our opinions within the fandom. We relay our apologizes to all of those in SHINee World who had been waiting for this post.

We apologize for everything: putting down the words of the Shawols no matter what by stating that it was a common concept; greatly ridiculing or criticizing SHINee and SHINee World; and circulating unconfirmed truths. We also apologize for our inability to act with discernment from the position of fans who like, hold dear, and love somebody.

We mentioned things from the past while speaking rudely, and we are very embarrassed of and want to apologize for overreacting. I’m yet unsure as to how this writing will be taken by SHINee World, but I wrote this letter of apology because I want to relay a desire to apologize somehow. We will try not to disappoint you again in the future. I apologize once again.

Posted by the entire BTS fan club, ARMY.”

Each letter to each fandom brings up different concerns in which the A.R.M.Y. member apologizes for. For B2ST, it is the lyrics controversy between B2ST’s Junhyung and Rap Monster. For VIXX, it is Rap Monster’s careless behavior towards VIXX’s winning first place with the song “Error” on a music competition show. Summarized, each letter identifies the issues the A.R.M.Y. has caused for each fandom which also includes WINNER, EXO, and Big Bang.

Ultimately, none of the fandoms of any K-pop group should belittle others. Despite what a K-pop fan’s bias may be, it is about supporting K-pop in general, and we cannot do that if we are tearing each other apart.

[Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images]