BTS and ARMY Donate to Coronavirus Relief After Big Hit Cancels Seoul Concerts
BTS has officially canceled the first four stops of their upcoming Map of the Soul world tour in light of the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea.
On February 28, Big Hit announced that the Seoul tour stops — scheduled to take place on April 11, 12, 18, and 19 at Jamsil Olympic Stadium — had been called off. Issuing an official statement on Weverse, the company wrote, “Plans for [these tour stops] included the involvement of a number of global production companies and a large group of expert international crew, with over 200,000 concertgoers expected to attend. However, the current global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has made it impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak during the dates of the concert in April, alongside increasing uncertainty about the cross-border movement of concert staff and equipment.”
The company also explained the rationale behind canceling the shows with a month’s advance, stating that, though they hoped “the situation will improve,” the cancelation was “unavoidable,” citing the health and safety of guests, staffs, and artists. “Please understand that this decision was made after extensive and careful consideration in order to cooperate with the government's measures on restricting public events as well as municipal advisories on the use of cultural and sports facilities,” the announcement finally stated.
For now, all other stops on BTS’s tour remain without changes, with a new L.A. date for May 5 recently being added to the U.S. leg of the tour. People who had purchased a ticket for any of the four canceled shows will be reimbursed automatically.
In light of the cancellation, ARMYs who had secured a ticket for the coveted shows (and more) rallied round to donate their ticket refunds for relief efforts and organizations, according to Osen via Naver News per a translation by @doyou_bangtan.
ARMYs are said to have taken inspiration from Suga (Min Yoongi), who reportedly donated 100 million won to disaster relief organization Hope Bridge in order to help in prevention by COVID-19 in his hometown of Daegu. Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, who also hails from Daegu, has also donated to the organization.
Shortly after the cancellation notice, on February 29, BTS appeared on KBS Music Bank Live to perform “Black Swan” and “ON,” but Jin also took the time to send a message of encouragement regarding the virus. “These days, many people are worried due to the coronavirus, but it’d be good if we could overcome it well by gathering together in strength!” he said on the show, per @doyou_bangtan.
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