Chinese streaming platforms have censored special appearances by celebrities such as BTS, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber on Friends: The Reunion, American media outlets reported on May 27. Chinese fans of the hit TV series were upset to find that iQiyi, Alibaba’s Youku and Tencent Video all censored appearances by the aforementioned celebrities as well as scenes that include gay characters, underwear and more, reported Allkpop.
In the past, Chinese nationalists condemned BTS for comments about South Korea’s alliance with US troops during the Korean War. BTS made the comments after accepting the General James A Van Fleet Award, given for promoting US-Korea ties, in October last year. In the same way, Lady Gaga became a controversial figure in China after voicing support for the Dalai Lama. Justin Bieber suffered backlash for visiting Japan’s Yasukuni Shrine which commemorates the deaths of Japanese troops who served in World War II.
Meanwhile, the boys of BTS briefly appeared in Friends: The Reunion special to share their love of the hit series.
BTS, also known as Bangtan Sonyeondan (Bangtan Boys) consists of seven members: RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Their ages range from 23 to 28.
The boyband debuted under Big Hit Entertainment in Seoul in 2013. Each BTS member co-writes and co-produces their own music and their music style includes a wide range of genres.
BTS released its debut single album 2 Cool 4 Skool in 2013 followed by US Billboard 200 entries The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 (2015), The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever (2016 and Wings (2016). Wings was the first BTS album to sell one million copies in South Korea.
In 2017, BTS gained popularity internationally, breaking records and was the first Korean group to receive a certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with the single Mic Drop.
BTS is the first and only Korean act as of 2019 to top the US Billboard 200 with the studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018). The band has since hit the top of the US charts with the albums Love Yourself: Answer (2018) and Map of the Soul: Persona (2019), making BTS the first group since The Beatles to earn three number one albums in less than a year./TISG