BTS meets with Joe Biden, directs viewers to the White House press conference

A White House press conference on Tuesday saw a huge surge in viewership when K-pop megastars BTS paused to deliver remarks before a meeting with President Joe Biden.

Seven sense organs which break records With popular songs and music videos, it has drawn more than 310,000 viewers at once to tune into the live stream of the press briefing on the White House YouTube channel. The regularly occurring briefings, which have recently focused on topics such as inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rarely generate anywhere close to the size of the audience seen on Tuesday.

For example, the official White House video of BTS’s briefing last Thursday, had less than 16,000 views on YouTube as of Tuesday afternoon.

BTS came to the White House to talk with Biden about Asian inclusion and representation, and to discuss their sharp rise Hate crimes against Asians In the last years. Biden signed the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act last year in an effort to tackle this trend.

The Oval Office meeting between the US president and the South Korean boy band is set in the wake of a meeting between Biden and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The two were due to discuss the state of the economy and inflation, which the White House calls Biden’s “top economic priority.”

Dressed in nearly identical black suits and black ties, the pop stars stood behind press secretary Karen-Jean-Pierre at the podium at the James Brady Media Room at the start of the briefing Tuesday afternoon.

The number of people viewing the White House video immediately rose when the briefing began, even when the broadcast initially had audio issues.

“Hello, we are BTS, and it is a great honor to be invited to the White House today so that we can discuss important issues related to hate crimes against Asia, Asian integration and diversity,” group leader RM told the audience. From correspondents in English.

He also thanked Biden for the “important opportunity to talk about important causes.” [and] We remind ourselves of what we can do as artists.”

The other six members all spoke Korean. The band did not answer any questions and left the room.

Many of the audience signed up at the same speed. Within a few minutes of leaving the group, more than 200,000 viewers had left the live broadcast.

National Economic Council Director Brian Daisy said with a sigh after the band’s departure, sparking laughter.

He said, “So I should go home and tell my kids that BTS opened for me.”