Big Hit Entertainment (hereafter Big Hit) has released an official statement regarding BTS’s upcoming fan meeting and corresponding events that were planned to be carried out by fans.

BTS will be hosting their 5th “Muster” fan meetings in Busan at Busan Asiad Auxiliary Stadium on June 15 and 16 and in Seoul at Olympic Gymnastics Arena on June 22 and 23. Since the beginning of April, BTS fan unions have been contacting a Big Hit employee in charge of fan clubs to plan a fan event for BTS during the fan meetings.

Fans had expressed their wishes to fund a “slogan event,” during which they would hold up banners with supportive messages written on them.

After discussing the production of the banners with Big Hit, the fan unions made follow-up inquiries. The inquiries included the number of banners that is needed for the fan meetings and whether or not fans are allowed to carry out different fan events aside from the slogan event.

However, Big Hit did not respond to the inquiries for a month. With only two weeks left until the fan meetings, the agency responded to the fan unions that they are in need of about 86,000 paper banners.

The estimated cost to produce the banners is 10 million won (approximately $8,480), but due to the delay in Big Hit’s response, fans are having difficulty raising money in the time left until the concert.

The following is the full statement from Big Hit Entertainment:

Hello, this is Big Hit Entertainment. We are delivering the following statements in regards to a fan event that is planned for BTS’s 5th Muster “Magic Shop.” Big Hit will prepare to ensure that the fan event will take place accordingly. Big Hit is fully aware that the fan events that happen during BTS’s concerts and fan meetings are beautiful moments where the artists and fans can share their feelings and communicate with each other and that these are precious moments for everyone. With that being said, we deliver our words of apology for not being able to smoothly communicate with the fan organizations (Union of Korean BTS fans and fan community “Army Zip”) that have been pushing for the upcoming fan event. On May 31, Big Hit received a response from these fan organizations that due to various circumstances, it will be hard to carry out a slogan event [during the upcoming BTS fan meetings]. After responding to the fan organizations that there is a need to notify all fans regarding the current situation, Big Hit has been preparing to release the notice to the fan cafe and to take other necessary measures in the future. Big Hit fully understands that the fan organizations that were in charge [of the fan event] had problems while preparing the fan event, and we agree that the event should be carried out accordingly even if it means getting support from the agency. Therefore, if the fan organizations that have been pushing for the fan event accept [the agency’s] proposal, Big Hit would like to confirm the slogan and the design of the banners and directly produce them so that the event is executed well. However, it will be difficult to make slogans out of cloth as requested by the fan organizations, when putting the time that is needed to produce them into consideration. We will review the fan events that may put pressure on fans. We will take this incident as an opportunity to have a thorough review of all fan events that may make fans feel pressured financially and arrange solutions. We will review the fan events that have already been approved [by the agency], and for future fan events, we will review them from different angles and provide solutions that don’t put pressure on fans. This is the extension of the agency’s past decision to stop accepting gifts from fans. We ask for your cooperation that fan events are carried out within limits that do not disturb the production and direction of concerts. Big Hit has always tried its best to make concerts a moving experience for the audience. Since a long time ago, we have been carrying out fan events within reason that do not affect the production and direction of the concerts, and we are trying to maintain that policy. We understand your desire to sing along to songs or control the Army Bomb (the name of BTS’s official light stick) as part of fan events, but it is realistically impossible to review, approve, and determine if something is appropriate for the production of each concert. We would like to inform that the sing-along to “Young Forever” during BTS’s concert at Wembley Stadium was not a fan event. Big Hit apologizes for causing fans to worry about the upcoming fan event. We will do our best for the remainder of the time [until the fan meetings] to ensure that BTS’s 5th Muster “Magic Shop” is a fun and memorable event for fans who are looking forward to it. Thank you.

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