As American protesters took to the streets to mourn the death of GeorgeFloyd, they found an unexpected ally in K-pop fans like the BTS ARMY.
Floyd died May 25 after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving. K-pop fans galvanized by police brutality and political disappointments swiftly mobilized, re-purposing their usual platforms and hashtags from boosting their favorite stars to backing the Black Lives Matter movement. They flooded right-wing hashtags and police apps with short video clips and memes of their K-pop stars.
Chloë Gallot, a French university student, said she joined ARMY — Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth — earlier this year when she “fell into the rabbit hole” while searching for a distraction from the coronavirus outbreak and personal troubles. A few days ago, Gallot became one of the ARMY members to respond to the #MatchAMillion hashtag, donating around $90 to Black Lives Matter.
Although K-pop has been popular in Asia for decades, the rise of BTS around the mid-2010s has grown fans in all corners of the world. However, that global expansion has sometimes created tension within the industry, spurred by multiple factors including language and cultural differences.
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