Although BTS's fifth studio album ARIRANG has been dominating the Billboard charts and is widely considered a strong contender for multiple major categories, the group recently sent ѕнσ¢кwaves through the music industry by confirming that they will not submit any of their work for the 69th Grammy Awards, which will be held next February. Explaining their decision, the members stated: "We hope music will be recognized and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language."
Industry experts have interpreted the decision as a direct response to the Recording Academy's newly introduced Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. Lee Ji-young, a professor of Semiosis Stu∂ιєs at Hankuk University of Foreign Stu∂ιєs, argued: "Grammy's decision to explicitly categorize music by creating separate award categories based on language and geographical region is, in reality, no different from a form of racial discrimination and exclusion."
BTS's decision was also met with overwhelming support from fans, кσяєαn netizens, and numerous figures in the music industry. Rapper Tablo even reposted the group's statement with the short but symbolic caption: "ARIRANG > GRAMMYs." Social media quickly filled with comments such as: "Bye Grammys," "Seeing a supposed 'prestigious' award show act like this makes them look so cheap. Even as a non-BTS fan, I support them," "So proud of my idols," and "A historic decision. It takes serious guts. All respect to BTS."
As support for BTS's "boycott" continued to spread online, the Grammy Awards appeared to have made a move of their own—one that has attracted considerable attention!
Over the past few hours, a fan discovered that the official Grammy YouTube channel had removed BTS's 2021 "Dynamite" performance and 2022 "Butter" performance on July 19 and July 28, respectively. The same fan also examined the page source of BTS's dedicated profile page on the Grammy website and found that it had last been modified on July 22, 2026. More importantly, they "find out that two videos from the 'BTS videos' section at the bottom of the page are 'currently unavailable.' They all directly link to videos on the Grammys YouTube channel. These two videos can't be found on their website as of today."
The fan further pointed out that Billboard and Rolling Stone had previously published articles about BTS's 2022 Grammy performance of Butter, complete with links directing readers to the original video on the Grammy YouTube channel. However, those links are now also inaccessible because the videos are no longer available.
A major fan account with more than 1.3 million followers later confirmed the finding after conducting its own check, writing: "All performances from the 2021 and 2022 Grammys have been set to private, and the page appears as unavailable on the Grammy website." The account also added: "I only posted 2020 and 2021 as a reference, but from what I saw, the 2019 and 2018 ones aren't available either."
These discoveries quickly sparked widespread discussion across social media, with many speculating that the Recording Academy's actions were a form of retaliation after BTS publicly announced they would neither submit their work nor participate in this year's Grammy Awards. Even so, many ARMYs argued that the move would have little to no impact on BTS and would instead make the Grammy Awards appear even more petty.
One fan commented: "They are maddd. Btw BTS Butter and Dynamite performance is the most viewed performance in Grammy stage's history @RecordingAcad hahahahahahaha loserrr," while attaching screenshots showing that BTS Comeback Live in March attracted more viewers than several major events, including The Oscars, the Grammy Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards.
Many fans also emphasized that BTS's global influence has never depended on appearing on the Grammy stage. Regardless of what the Recording Academy chooses to do, they argued, it cannot diminish BTS's impact, as the group continues to sell millions of albums, sell out stadium tours worldwide, and receive overwhelming recognition from au∂ιєnces across the globe. The online discussion has been filled with comments such as:
- These people are acting like babies who are unhappy that someone took their toy... Complete idiots..
- Of course they disliked it, scammies think they’re the best thing ever. This isn’t soмєтнing that should come as a surprise, they’re pissed their ratings beacons said nah fam and called out their system
- the grammys continue to prove how unprofessional and bitter they are when it comes to bts and their decisions, instead of respecting the artists and their choices, they keep showing the same behaviour over and over. bts have already built a legacy that speaks for itself, with or without grammy recognition.
- Its not BTS ℓσѕт lol . They acting like a toodler not getting what they want and throwing tantrums lmao . . . Its their ℓσѕт and will remain that way. BLOCKED that award show acc already i know everyone will follow. No need to engage with them no engagement no views nothing at all.
- Their ego can't handle rejection. Throwing tantrums like a toddler
- Armies are always rooting for 7 aliens, do whatever you want mfkkrs, BTS paved the way
- I'm so fkin proud of BTS... Scammys showed their pettiness as soon as Kings taught them a lesson...Just shows how much they deserved being left lol. Anyways BTS paved a way for Asian pops... It will be funny now cause they will be fιgнтing for BTS crumbs
- They must be crying rn, those videos was the mosted watched on their channel, so f*ck grammy. Like the losers they are :)
- @RecordingAcad pathetic losers. The performance is still the most viewed performance from your f*ck*ss ceremony cry about it
