BTS’ statement last month that they would “refuse to attend” the Grammys in the U.S. sent ѕнσ¢кwaves through the global music industry. The group’s move received widespread public support and sparked a major wave of criticism toward the awards show. Even experts, artists, and South кσяєαn and international media outlets strongly spoke out against the practice of grouping all European/Asian music into a single category, calling it “insulting and racially discriminatory.”
Initially, Grammy officials remained defiant, defending their new award and arguing that its purpose had been misunderstood. However, just two weeks later, the Grammys were forced to officially acknowledge the criticism. CEO Harvey Mason Jr. acknowledged that the category does not yet accurately reflect the nature of the music being created by these artists. He pledged that the Recording Academy would promptly make adjustments in response to the community’s concerns, while also strengthening dialogue with Asian music industry professionals to reshape the category’s direction accordingly.
As the Grammy controversy has only just begun to ∂ιє down, it seems the VMAs are looking to “follow suit,” becoming the second major awards show this year to find itself under intense scrutiny following the release of its nominations for this year’s ceremony. Once again, BTS is being accused of receiving unfair treatment from a major αмєяι¢αn awards show!
Specifically, on the 18th, according to the newly announced nominations, BTS received two nominations at the VMAs: Song Of The Year for “SWIM” and Best K-Pop. The number was significantly lower than many fans had expected, especially considering that the group was left out of Album Of The Year, Artist Of The Year, and several other major general categories.
BTS’ absence from the major categories and the small number of nominations left many fans surprised and frustrated. One fan bluntly wrote: “The VMAs noms are a JOKE this year, they ignored ARIRANG and BTS and only SWIM got nominated for Song of the Year category. Bruhhhh.” Another fan also expressed their frustration: “Biggest artist of 2026 !! But only 2 nominees on @vmas?? Only Song of the year and Best Kpop?? Not in the Artist of the year or Best Pop?? What's the point of that !!!Dividing again like Scrammy did??”
In particular, fans’ disappointment and suspicions became even more apparent after they noticed that the entire Album Of The Year lineup was dominated by αмєяι¢αn artists such as Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Madonna, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift. This reality has led fans to question whether the VMAs are following in the Grammys’ footsteps—deliberately pushing BTS out of the most prestigious categories to preserve an advantage for domestic names.
Speaking out about the VMAs’ alleged unfairness, one ARMY argued that the problem lies in the way awards shows continue to deliberately “put BTS in a regional box,” while also questioning why “SWIM” is competing for Song of the Year while simultaneously being labeled Best K-Pop: “Is it because of its sound, its language, or simply because the artists are кσяєαn?” The fan pointed out that although BTS is inseparable from the global rise of K-pop, not every release by the group should automatically be treated as regional music when there is no transparency about the criteria, because: “You cannot keep calling soмєтнing a genre while using it as a regional compartment.”
In addition, ARMYs pointed out a suspicious loophole that they believe further raises questions about the VMAs’ transparency and fairness. According to the rules publicly posted on the awards show’s website, “The 'Nominee' with the most votes... will be declared the winner...” However, the rules then include a series of special powers reserved for the organizers: “...Sponsor reserves the right to select the winners at its discretion...” “...if this voting process is interrupted... found to have been tampered with... or for any other reason...” and “...Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, amend, modify, extend or suspend the voting process...”
At present, fans are extremely frustrated with the way the VMAs are treating BTS and their music unfairly this year, reacting:
- No artist of the year or album or the year?? they were robbed already. I hope BTS do not attend this rigged awards show. They have better things to do!
- The biggest album of the ear gets treated like this... VMAs is filling their pockets because the nominations this year make no sense at all. And the problem is not just about BTS not getting nominations. Unknown songs getting nominated is crazy
- They must scare music industry so much.. this is ridicules embarrαѕѕing of MTV
- VMAs is as same as grannys. VMAs tracking period was from June 2025 to mid June 2026 yet the nominations barely make sense. It's not based on chart or numbers or any critical score but MTV chooses wtv tf they want FOR CLOUT & juicy gossip for those who PAY THEM
- BTS released THREE music videos and they didn’t even nominate ONE in video of the year. they’re sooo obvious lmfao
- They riding on the scandal going on with Grammy. They want people to think they would do better by including BTS in a mainstream category and grab viewership. They probably only use Swim cause it the only English song from the album THEY know & didn't listen to the whole album.
- Surprised that bts are not nominated in the best pop and artist of the year category like wtf Arirang has been smashing records and collecting accolades left and right . What an absolute joke!!!
- BTS have one of the biggest albums of the year but no AOTY nom, when I tell you VMA is a joke…
- ignoring ARIRANG and BTS like they don’t exist is actually insane You can’t erase the impact they’ve had on music and pretend the world didn’t see it No global artist has come close to ARIRANG’s success, insane numbers, or its impact, and yet it still wasn’t nominated. How blatantly яα¢ιѕт can you be? This is embarrαѕѕing
- VMAs proving themselves as miserable hags. No BTS and Olivia when they are the ones with album getting most streams
