Netizens Slam “The-K Billboard Awards” Saying It Unnecessarily Segregates Korean And Western Music

Is this new award show a good or bad thing?

Billboard announced their new event titled The-K Billboard Awards on their Instagram page. Their caption says the event aims to highlight “the dazzling achievements of K-POP artists based on the Billboard charts.” It is scheduled for live-streaming on October 28, 2022, at 8 pm Korean Standard Time on the K-Culture Festival YouTube channel.

| @billboard/Instagram

The post’s message seems hopeful, but many netizens online slammed and criticized the announcement, saying it was unnecessary to have a separate awards show dedicated to Korean artists.

ARMYs, BTS’s official fandom, were particularly upset due to a statement made by Bik Hwang, the executive director of the 2022 K-Culture Festival. This festival served to launch The-K Billboard Awards.

Poster for the 2022 K-Culture Festival

In an interview with The Korea Times last September 20, 2022, Hwang said,

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.

Netizens online were furious, claiming there was no point in looking for “The next BTS” since the group was still active.

Others claimed that separating Korean artists from Western artists meant Billboard was concerned about the amount of attention given to BTS.

No official statements have addressed fans’ outrage as of this article’s writing.

Source: The Korea Times

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