James Corden slammed for calling BTS Army '15-year-old girls', deletes video
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James Corden rubbed the BTS fanbase the wrong way when in a video, he called them "unusual visitors" and "15-year-old girls" as the K pop band performed at the United Nations General Assembly.
‘The Late Late Show’ host James Corden has upset BTS Army for his recent comments on the boy band’s visit to the UN. The K pop band made a historic visit to the United Nations General Assembly as they performed and gave a speech on climate change and need to understand this from the youth’s perspective.
BTS performed their latest song ‘Permission to Dance’, albeit it was pre-recorded in the halls of UN and was showcased to policymakers and politicians from around the world. The group then returned to New York to attend this year’s session as the special presidential envoy for future generations and culture.
Commenting on this trip, James Corden joked, “The United Nations General Assembly kicked off this morning in New York City, and it started with some pretty unusual visitors… BTS were there. BTS visited the UN… Although lots of people are saying why are BTS there, the world leaders have no choice but to take BTS seriously. BTS has one of the largest ARMY on the planet earth. Historic moment. It actually marks the first time that 15 year old girls everywhere found themselves wishing that they were Secretary General António Guterres."
Referring to BTS fans as “15-year-olds” and “unusual visitors” did not sit well with the ARMY who took to Twitter to express their anger.
One user wrote, “1. It wasn’t “unusual" for BTS to be there. They’ve been 3 times. 2. They weren’t “visiting". They were Presidental Envoys who were invited to speak. 3. Teen girls are valid, innovative, smart, & set a lot of trends although we aren’t all teens or girls," while another expressed, “Thoughts about that James Corden clip. Firstly calling fans a bunch of 15 year old girls is extremely sexist. It’s a phrase meant to belittle and invalidate women’s interests as less than. BTS has a diverse fanbase in ages, gender and race because they have value and substance."
The TV host has now deleted those videos after facing backlash.
Meanwhile, BTS’ visit to the UNGA was special by every metric. The K-pop band, considered as youth icons all over the world, spoke on climate change, sustainability and growth, challenges they faced amid the pandemic and why they felt the youth had the ability to forge ahead despite those challenges. The band spoke about their experiences as part of the younger generation, and how their views about their future paths were being shaped by the pandemic.
BTS had first spoken in the UN as part of their Love Myself campaign with UNICEF in 2017.