KATY Perry was slammed by BTS Army for giving the band a shout-out on American Idol after she “dissed” fans during a 2019 concert.
Fans claimed she tried to appropriate a phrase that is very dear to them.
During last night’s episode of American Idol, fans got to see Anthony Key audition while singing and dancing to BTS’s Dynamite, their first English-only song.
After a couple of verses, Katy – along with Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan – got up to dance along with him before they came to the conclusion that his vocals weren’t as strong as his dancing moves.
However, before eliminating him, the mother of one smiled and saluted him, saying: “I purple heart you.”
This is a reference to BTS – a K-pop group that has found fame in the United States – as one of the members revealed that them saying, “I purple you” means “I trust and love you for a long time.”
Following the performance, the BTS Army that had been watching the show quickly took to Twitter to slam the I Kissed A Girl singer.
One fan wrote: “How dare you use the color purple when you so blatantly fail to acknowledge the work of the artist for whom purple means so much. Shame on you.”
A second one shared: “No. No thank you, Katy Perry. This is going to be a hard pass. Not after how you treated BTS’ fans at that concert. Total clout chaser!”
A third one tweeted: “Not her who called BTS Army a bunch of kids.”
And a fourth one passionately explained: “I purple you is a BTS term that a BTS member came up with. No one else but armies and BTS use it, it’s a sanctuary word for us and means a lot.
“Katy Perry called us all children and made a joke that it’s past our bedtime. We’re not dumb, okay.”
The moment that BTS fans were talking about was back in 2019 when both Katy and BTS performed at the Jingle Rock concert.
Video from that time showed Katy performing after BTS and before beginning her show, she told those who had stayed: “Most of you get to stay late past your bedtime.”
Following her comment, many of BTS’ fans abandoned the arena as they took offense, while others chose to not react to her performance at all and stayed quiet.
The new season of American Idol kicked off two weeks ago as the judges got back together to judge contestants in person.
This season kicked off with Claudia Conway’s audition. Claudia rose to fame on TikTok as she shared several videos of her mom, Kellyanne Conway, a former Donald Trump aide.
The 16-year-old described her relationship with her mom as “iffy” before she was given a golden ticket to move on in the show.
American Idol airs on ABC Sundays at 8pm.
