Charlie Puth & BTS: A Complex Relationship
Every fandom is driven by a purpose and a fierce protectiveness of the artist they support. And often, this means they sometimes take drastic, harsh measures, in the name of their favoured musicians. So, invariably, on numerous occasions, artists are often dragged into fights and crushed under the weight of wild accusations. Charlie Puth has been a victim of this, and he’s clearly had enough.
The star recently took to social media to share his unfiltered thoughts on the toxicity of stan culture between fan bases. “I don’t usually pay any mind to things like this, but something has to be said. This dangerous, toxic, internet screaming match between ‘fandoms’ has to stop,” he began, not bothering to sugarcoat a single thing in his series of tweets. “I’m 28 years old, so it doesn’t really mean anything to me when some person I don’t know writes a nasty message to me saying things like ‘I used BTS for clout.’ I don’t know what that means- I love those guys and they are super talented.”
Confused? Well, let’s clear it up for you. The singer’s reference to BTS comes after the band’s fans, ARMY, accused him of trying to piggyback off the group’s popularity for his own gain. And so, not long after his performance of ‘We Don’t Talk Anymore’ with the band’s youngest member, Jungkook, he soon became the sole focus of a lot of hate-messages and accusations.
Charlie Puth Pleads for More Sensitivity on Social Media
This controversy finds its roots in an interview Charlie Puth gave back in 2018, in which he expressed an interest in collaborating with the boy band, jokingly naming their large fanbase as one of his incentives for doing so.
But, it looks like he’s completely cleared the air with this set of tweets. “But what I do know is that 10 years ago, language like this directed towards me would’ve affected me deeply in a very negative way. And I’m thinking about all the other younger kids on twitter seeing stuff like this on a daily basis.” He went on to point out that baseless rumours and assumptions could cause a lot of harm to people, so rather than spreading “nonsense” just as a cry for attention, perhaps netizens should focus on practicing kindness instead.
“It may sound cliche, but please be nicer to each other on here. No more screaming about made up nonsense. It does nobody any good. We all need to love each other MORE THAN EVER RIGHT NOW,” he concluded.
While there has been no response from BTS on this matter, there’s more than enough evidence pointing to Charlie’s appreciation of the band’s music and vocal abilities. So, for now, here’s hoping that fans are a little more sensitive to the kind of messages they put forward.
By: Nina Karun
