iHeartRadio DJ Offends ARMYs With His Statement About Jungkook’s Song “Left and Right”
The Charlie Puth and BTS‘s Jungkook collab “Left and Right” has been doing exceptionally well since its debut on June 24. The song recently hit its 100th day on iTunes and is currently charting at #60. The song was nominated for VMA‘s “Song of the Summer” and gave BTS Jungkook his “Artist of the Summer” title from Audacy.
The song’s success can be attributed to the hard work of Charlie Puth’s fans and ARMY, who have been streaming the song and requesting it on radio stations to ensure it got a fair share of airplay in the U.S. The goal was for the song to get chart records, and steady radio play was one of the considerations for the song to chart on Billboard.
However, one DJ from iHeartRadio, Brian Grimes, has put his foot down on not playing the song despite claiming he likes Charlie Puth and even tweeted about it.
The tweet has since been deleted after Grimes alleged that he was receiving death threats on his DMs from angry fans. However, one ARMY still wanted to hold Grimes accountable for what he said and uploaded a video of Grimes with the other iHeartRadio DJs, where Grimes even called ARMYs “BTS Nerds.”
.@xl1067 This is unnecessary, in a time when radio is dying your DJs are insulting people who are actually engaging and tuned in. Then to say they won’t play a song because they hate the fans? That’s just immature and unprofessional. Please apologize. #BTSARMY #bts pic.twitter.com/vTYie3wYsy
— ⟭⟬ ⒷⓉⓈ Carrie⁷⟬⟭아포방포 ᴾʳᵒᵒᶠ (@Carrie_Army) October 3, 2022
The video elicited a barrage of reactions, one coming from Ty Stiklorius, Founder and CEO of Friends At Work, the management company handling Charlie Puth.
Unbelievable. Can’t imagine him saying this about Taylor Swift or Harry Styles fans. It’s so insulting. https://t.co/ynIPVPuePq
— Ty Stiklorius (@tystiklorius) October 3, 2022
ARMYs called out not only Brian Grimes, but the other DJs who agreed with Grimes that ARMYs’ repeated requests for “Left and Right” to be played were annoying.
Do your job @xl1067. If you're not playing requests because you view nerds as annoying, you have serious issues. Your "talent" admitted on air they won't play groups bc they hate the fans. That's like me not writing abt celebs bc I dislike their fans. Oh wait, I don't do that… https://t.co/QqJj1GqZAh
— Jae-Ha Kim 김재하 (@GoAwayWithJae) October 3, 2022
“We have to clean all of that stuff out” not @JohnnyMagic1067 admitting on @iHeartRadio that they filter out #btsarmy requests or @thebriangrimes calling us “nerds” and not caring if he offends us. I have one grad degree & almost two others. So, I guess I am a nerd. Anyone else? https://t.co/Rl7nMVWMEB
— SoCal Roving ⁷ Mapler (@SoCalRoving) October 3, 2022
Grimes took it further and communicated with @Carrie_Army, the ARMY who posted the video.
He explained where he was coming from while @Carrie_Army explained the fans’ perspective.
I’ve been listening for years, Brian, it was difficult to hear. Go back and see the interaction I’ve had with your station, it’s usually thanking you for playing BTS and engaging. That’s why today has been incredibly hurtful.
You said that you were being sarcastic, but at the same time, when your cohost tried to pull you back, you said I don’t care. BTS has faced massive amounts of racism and xenophobia from western media, as do most K-Pop acts, and yet fans are the most engaged of any fans worldwide.
iHeartRadio knows this that’s why they are sold-out events when BTS is there but have to give away tickets when they aren’t. IFPI has said they are the best-selling group in the world, they’ve gotten Grammy nods, won AMAs, BBMAs, VMAs, iHeart awards, and yet still, we have to organize campaigns just to get a collab played on radio. A collaboration with an artist you yourself said you liked. The question is why?
— @Carrie_Army, Twitter
We had challenges like this happened before. James Corden famously insulted ARMY for a laugh but instead of outright apologizing for what he said to kick it off, he chose to focus on the few people who took things too far.
I really hope you don’t follow his example, but so far you are following his playbook. Instead of saying ‘I’m sorry for insulting ARMYs and saying I wouldn’t play the song,’ it has been it was a joke, I’m sarcastic, it was taken the wrong way, and I was threatened.
Can you see how that might be taken as a pivot and not a genuine reflection of offending your listeners? People do love BTS for their message, it’s a beautiful one of unity and self love but we are also very protective of that message and all the messengers.
— @Carrie_Army, Twitter
In the end, Grimes committed he would be playing “Left and Right” the next day. The fans have been asking for iHeartRadio’s stand on Brian Grimes’ behavior but the station has not commented on the incident.
