(VIDEO) Justin Bieber Reacts to BTS Grammy Boycott as Support for K-Pop Group Grows Across the Industry

BTS’s decision to withdraw from consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards has continued to draw reaction from across the music industry in the days since the announcement, with pop star Justin Bieber among the figures who have weighed in publicly as the controversy surrounding the Recording Academy’s new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category shows no sign of fading.

Bieber’s involvement in the ongoing conversation follows his appearance alongside BTS at one of the summer’s most-watched entertainment events. On July 19, Bieber joined Madonna, Shakira, Burna Boy and the seven members of BTS on stage during the halftime show of the FIFA World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a Chris Martin-curated performance that put th

How the Boycott Began

BTS’s decision traces back to July 29, when all seven members, RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, posted identical statements to their individual Instagram accounts announcing they would not submit any music for consideration at the 69th Grammy Awards, scheduled for Feb. 7, 2027. The group said it hoped music could be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language, and thanked its fanbase, known as ARMY, for their continued support. The statement did not explicitly name a category, but it was widely interpreted as a direct response to the Recording Academy’s June 16 announcement of Best Asian Pop Music Performance, a new award requiring meaningful use of one or more Asian languages that many critics argue effectively walls K-pop and other non-English Asian pop off from the ceremony’s marquee general-field categories.

The withdrawal came at a moment when BTS appeared to have its strongest Grammy prospects in years. The group’s fifth studio album, “Arirang,” released in March following the members’ return from South Korea’s mandatory military service, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and topped charts in 23 countries, while lead single “SWIM” became the group’s highest-charting entry on the Hot 100 to date. BTS had collected five prior Grammy nominations without a win, for “Dynamite,” “Butter,” “My Universe” and its featured role on Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres,” and had previously described the Grammys as the “last summit” left for the group to climb.

Industry Reaction Continues to Build

Support for BTS’s stance has come from a range of figures inside and outside the K-pop industry in the days since the announcement. Tablo, frontman of the Korean hip-hop group Epik High, publicly backed the decision on social media, as did Maggie Kang, the Korean Canadian director of Netflix’s animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters,” and Mike WiLL Made-It, the American producer behind the “Arirang” track “Aliens,” which surged to No. 1 on iTunes charts in 78 countries following the boycott announcement as fans rallied behind the group.

CedarBough T. Saeji, a K-pop scholar at Pusan National University, has offered a pointed critique of the new category’s design, telling reporters that while some within the Recording Academy likely viewed the addition as inclusive, nothing about categories like Record of the Year or Best Pop Duo/Group Performance needs to exclude music made by non-American artists. Anton Hur, a translator known for his work on a bestselling book about BTS, separately praised the group’s decision on social media, calling it the right call.

The Recording Academy’s Response

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. addressed the boycott directly in a statement, saying he was saddened to hear that BTS had chosen not to participate in the Grammy Awards process this year, while adding that he understood and respected the group’s decision as a fellow music creator. Mason has since sought to clarify the intent behind the new category, stating that submitting music in a genre category such as Asian Pop, or Jazz, or Country does not exclude an artist from also being considered in the Grammys’ General Field, which includes Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. He said recognition in a genre category and recognition in the General Field are not mutually exclusive, and that an artist can pursue both simultaneously.

That explanation has done little to quiet critics, some of whom point to a pattern across the awards industry of introducing specialized categories for K-pop only after the genre has become too commercially significant to ignore. Since 2020, when BTS became the first Asian act nominated in MTV’s main Video Music Award pop category alongside artists including the Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga and Bieber himself, several major award shows including the American Music Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards have introduced K-pop-specific categories of their own.

A Boycott With Limits

Despite the wave of public support, BTS’s management company HYBE has clarified that the withdrawal does not represent a company-wide boycott, and that neither the group nor its label has asked other artists to follow suit. That distinction has proven significant: while individual voices across music and entertainment have expressed solidarity with BTS in the weeks since the announcement, no other major K-pop act has formally joined the group in withdrawing music from Grammy consideration, with submissions for the ceremony’s new categories remaining open through Aug. 28.

With BTS out of contention, the inaugural Best Asian Pop Music Performance award will go to another act when nominees are announced in mid-November, with industry observers naming groups including ATEEZ, Stray Kids, Hearts2Hearts, BINI and CORTIS among the likely contenders. As the submission window continues, attention remains focused on whether additional artists, drawing further public commentary from figures across the industry, ultimately follow BTS’s lead or choose instead to compete for a category the K-pop pioneers themselves declined to enter.