BTS attends White House press briefing
K-pop group BTS made an appearance at the White House press briefing on Tuesday, before meeting with President Biden about Asian American representation and the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
Video Transcript
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So today on the final day of Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I'm excited to welcome some special guests to the briefing room today, pop phenom BTS. Woo-hoo! 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. After this briefing, they will join President Biden in a discussion about Asian inclusion, representation, and diversity, as well as addressing anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination.
As many of you know, the President has led a historic whole of government approach to combat racism, xenophobia, intolerance, intolerance facing ANHPI communities, beginning his first week in office when he issued a presidential memorandum leveraging the power of the federal government to stand against this hate. The President also signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law; signed an executive order to re-establish the White House Initiative on Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders; and funded critical research to prevent and address xenophobia against AA and NHPI communities.
- Thank you, Karine, for your kind words. And hi, we're BTS. And it is a great honor to be invited to the White House today to discuss the important issues of anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian inclusion, and diversity.
