“HYBE made it clear that this was BTS’ decision and that other artists under the label are free to make their own choices. More importantly though, there simply aren’t many Korean or Asian artists with BTS’ level of global influence at the moment. Even if another artist made the same decision, I’m not convinced it would generate the same level of discussion.”

Hye Jin Lee · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-31

Lee explained that HYBE made clear other artists are free to make their own choices and that few Asian artists have BTS' level of global influence.