BTS’ Full White House Speech Revealed: Watch Here
On Tuesday (May 31), BTS traveled to the White House to meet with President Joe Biden on the final day of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, or AANHPI Month.
But before the legendary septet spoke with the president in a closed-door conversation, they delivered an address to the press alongside the new press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Their conversation with Biden is said to cover the uptick in anti-Asian hate crimes amongst other things. The topic also came in to play in the White House press room.
Jean-Pierre joked about the palpable excitement and energy she felt upon entering the space with BTS.
"I'm excited to welcome some special guests to the briefing room today — pop phenoms, BTS," she said. "While many of you may know BTS as Grammy nominated, international icons, they also play an important role as youth ambassadors promoting a message of respect and positivity."
Watch Jean-Pierre introduce the group below.
Each member of the group spoke briefly to the press. You can watch the video and read a full transcript of their statement below.
Karine Jean-Pierre: They'll each speak first, and then the interpreter will come back up and interpret what they just said. They're not going to take any questions, they're just going to come here and give some words. Then we'll start the briefing.
RM: Thank you, Karine, for your kind words, and hi, we're BTS. It is a great honor to be invited to the White House today to discuss the important issue of anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian inclusion and diversity.
Jin: Today is the last day of the AANHPI Heritage Month. We join the White House to stand with the AANHPI community and to celebrate.
Jimin: We were devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes including Asian American hate crimes. To put a stop on this and support the cause, we'd like to take this opportunity to voice ourselves once again.
J-Hope: We are here today thanks to our ARMY, our fans worldwide, who have different nationalities and cultures and use different languages. We are truly and always grateful.
Jungkook: We still feel surprised that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people around the world, transcending languages and cultural barriers. We believe music is always an amazing and wonderful unifier of all things.
Suga: It's not wrong to be different. I think equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our own differences.
V: Everyone has their own history. We hope today is one step forward to respecting and understanding everyone as a valuable person.
RM: And lastly, we thank President Biden and the White House for giving this important opportunity to speak about the important causes, remind ourselves of what we can do as artists. Once again, thank you very much.
The "Butter" hit-makers are no strangers to speaking in front of an audience. They previously spoke at the United Nations and delivered their third address to the group last year.