Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
BTS and Big Hit Entertainment have donated $1 million to Live Nation’s Crew Nation campaign that was setup to help the staff of live concerts who are currently being wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemics and the restrictions put in place that prevent them from working.
BTS and Big Hit have donated $1 million to Live Nation’s Crew Nation campaign. The fund was launched in March to support the live concert crews across the globe that have been impacted by COVID-19—the K-Pop phenom’s donation is one of the largest artist donations since the fund was created. Live Nation kicked off the campaign by donating an initial $5 million and matching a further $5 million given by artists, fans and employees, dollar for dollar. The fund provides a one-time grant of $1,000 to crew members who make 50% or more of their income from live performance. Over 70 live concert crew members who were originally scheduled to work at BTS’ concerts in 2020 have received funding so far. 20% of whom are veteran crews who have worked in live performance industry for over 16 years. This contribution will help aide 1,000 live concert crews to receive relief. All nationalities, including Koreans, can apply for the Crew Nation fund.
BTS and Big Hit’s global CEO gave comments as well.
“If it weren’t for COVID-19, we would have been happily touring across the world with many of our live concert crews by now,” said BTS. “We are aware that a lot of communities need help due to COVID-19, and we wanted to support the music industry crews by making a donation. We hope to meet again on stage very soon.” According to Big Hit’s Global CEO Lenzo Yoon, “It is very unfortunate that the music industry has to go through such difficult time at the moment,” and added “we hope our contribution to Crew Nation could help support many live concert crews around the world.”
I absolutely love this. This is exactly what celebrities should be doing in terms of opening up their wallets, especially to those who make their shit work.
Too often I feel like K-pop stans focus on a binary with K-pop companies pitted against K-pop idols, or even a trio with the media involved pitted against either of the former pair. However, lost in the shuffle most of the time is those who are generally the most at risk due to low pay, poor treatment, or hazardous conditions (or all three), which is the common worker and staff who are supporting all of these people. I hope more, particularly those who have the means, follow on this route, honestly.
