Here’s What the BTS Army Has to Say About The Group’s VMAs Snub
MTV's 2018 Video Music Award nominations have officially arrived, and the BTS Army is livid.
Despite notching the biggest 24-hour debut on YouTube so far this year — amassing a staggering 35.9 million views in a single day — the K-pop group's May video for Love Yourself: Tear hit "Fake Love" is nowhere to be found on this year's list of nominees. Top honors, announced on Monday (July 16), instead went to major U.S. acts like Cardi B, Childish Gambino, and power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
As there's no clear public information on how the network picks its nominees, it's difficult to say why BTS didn't receive a nod. Other top-charting artists like Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, and Kendrick Lamar, all of whom released some of the year's most ambitious music videos, are also conspicuously absent.
In response, BTS fans have taken to social media to express their outrage at their fave's snub, even going as far as to accuse MTV of xenophobia (though it's worth noting Drake, Camila Cabello, Sigrid, and others, while popular in America, are all originally from other countries).
"so MTV can constantly tweet about BTS and use their following for their own gain... but when it comes to REWARDING them for their music & accomplishments they'd rather nominate mediocre white boybands who can't sell or break records instead of best selling POC artists. Huh," wrote one Twitter user.
Added another, more broadly: "Not ONLY were @BTS_twt ROBBED at the VMAs, but they have the AUDACITY to not put Taylor OR Normani either? VMAs are cancelled."
See more reactions below.