The popular South Korean band, BTS, met with President Biden at the White House on Tuesday. Dozens of young fans waited outside the White House grounds with the hope of catching a glimpse of the boy band members. It also created a lot of excitement in the White House press room.

The topic of the meeting was hate crimes against Asians in the US. The band is a known advocate for social justice causes.

The band members spoke to reporters before the meeting. 

“We were devastated by the recent surge of hate crimes, including Asian American hate crimes,” the band’s member Jimin said. “To put a stop on this and support the cause, we’d like to take this opportunity to voice ourselves once again.”

There has been a huge increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in the US during the past year. One reason for the increase is the perception by many Americans that China is at fault for the pandemic, an idea pushed by right-wing media and continues to be spread by former-President Donald Trump. 

While on the air, Fox News Host Tucker Carlson said, “Yeah, so we got a Korean pop group to discuss anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States. Okay. Good job, guys.”Carlson suggested that White House invites to popular youth models like BTS was helping “degrade” America. “And it’s working,” he added.

Carlson’s comments made Twitter run wild with critical and even hateful rhetoric by BTS fans and others, against the Fox News Host. 

The band is famous for using their songs to empower young people.

In June 2020, BTS fans raised about $1 million in one day in an online campaign for US social justice issues.

Carlson learned the hard way not to mess with BTS fans.