BTS Fans Slam Billboard's New 'K-Billboard Awards': Here's Why They Think It's Racist

Billboard has announced a new category to honor successful K-pop artists but fans of global sensation BTS are unimpressed.

The American music and entertainment magazine announced Monday that "The-K Billboard Awards" will "highlight the dazzling achievements of K-POP artists based on the Billboard charts." The event, set to be live streamed on YouTube on Oct. 28, will be spearheaded by the country's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) as part of the K-Culture Festival launched in Seoul in September.

The announcement attracted the ire of BTS loyalists who see the event as a racist act against South Korean musicians.

"This is not something to be happy about. They segregate non-English music as a way to exclude non-English music. Billboard is a joke," one fan commented on Instagram.

"This is a stupid move by Billboard. Don't want to recognize BTS and other k-pop artists in your main awards so you shove them in a separate (shittier) box. And announce it 4 days in advance. Cool," another wrote.

Others took to Twitter to rant about the new category, with one saying, "This 'K-billboard' stuff is straight up racist, they also did this to Latin Artists, they are afraid they will overshadow American Artists, and don't want them to be acknowledged in the main category, that's ridiculous. Xenophobia."

Some people took offense at a statement made by Bik Hwang, executive director of the 2022 K-Culture Festival, in an interview with The Korea Times in September where he explained the purpose of the new award category.

"This is part of our mission to find the next BTS. We will not limit our nominees to the festival attendees. Instead, we will strictly adhere to Billboard's points system and honor winners by visiting their studios, if necessary," Hwang told the outlet.

Fans strongly opposed the idea.

"idk but making a new award show to 'find the next bts' when the bts in question is alive and kicking is a show of shamelessness and acknowledgment that they don't have any power over bts. also very embarrassing to all the artists involved bc they'll be known as 2nd class," one person tweeted.

Another user responded that "there's no next bts !!"

K-Culture Festival was held in Seoul from Sept. 30 to Oct. 8 with traditional Korean music and dance performances, a "K-Drama Concert" and a "K-Concert," which featured K-pop groups Monsta X, NCT Dream, WINNER, IVE, Zico, STAYC, WJSN, MAX, CRAVITY, MCND and BLANK2Y.