Immediately after BTS declared a boycott of submitting entries to next year's Grammy Awards, representative BTS performance videos were deleted in succession from the Grammys' official website.
As of the 1st, the Grammys' official website no longer shows BTS's 2021 "Dynamite" and 2022 "Butter" stage videos. The videos are currently viewable on BTS's official YouTube channel, but they have been taken down from the Grammys' site.
Some have suggested the move was retaliatory, coming right after BTS's Grammy boycott declaration. The Grammys have not issued a separate position on the video removals.
Earlier, on the 29th, BTS said via a social media post under the names of the seven members that they would not submit works to the 69th Grammy Awards to be held in February next year. This was interpreted as an indirect critique of the newly created "Best Asian Pop Music Performance" category by the U.S. Recording Academy, which oversees the Grammys.
The new category targets not only K-pop but also J-pop and C-pop, and to qualify, lyrics must include one or more Asian languages. However, because the announcement came just two months before the submission deadline and the main tracks on BTS's new studio album "Arirang" are centered on English, controversy arose with some asking whether it was "a rule aimed at BTS."
Explaining the reason for refusing to submit, BTS said, "We hope the music is heard and loved as music itself rather than being categorized by region or language."
As the controversy grew, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. explained, "The intent is solely to celebrate the growth and diversity of Asian pop music, and there is no intention to segregate or discriminate."
The Grammys are regarded as the world's most prestigious music awards, but they have long faced criticism as the "white Grammys" for awarding practices centered on certain genres and mainstream American artists. BTS, too, was nominated multiple times in the past but ultimately failed to win.