Grammy Awards Face Asian Pop Controversy... Stray Kids Join BTS in Boycott

[Financial News] Amid controversy over discrimination against Asian pop by the Grammy Awards, global K-pop group Stray Kids has declared a boycott, following BTS.
According to industry sources on the 3rd, JYP Entertainment said that Stray Kids will not submit music for next year's 69th Grammy Awards ceremony.
The decision came immediately after The Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammy Awards, confirmed that it would proceed as scheduled with the controversial Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. Following BTS, which declared a boycott earlier, another leading K-pop group has voiced its protest in quick succession.
In June, The Recording Academy announced that it would create a separate Asian pop category for music from Asian countries, including South Korea, China and Japan. It subsequently faced fierce criticism for regional discrimination, with critics saying the move would exclude K-pop, which has established itself as mainstream music worldwide, from the main award categories and confine it to a specific region.
At the time, BTS immediately refused to submit music, saying, "We hope music will be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being classified by region or language." Despite public criticism, the organizers officially confirmed that they would proceed with next year's ceremony, saying there was greater support for creating the category than opposition to it.
Stray Kids also opted not to submit music, taking a firm stance. The group has topped the U.S. main album chart, the Billboard 200, nine times, giving it the second-highest number of No. 1 records after The Beatles. In particular, all eight members have secured Grammy voting rights, so the impact of their participation in the boycott is expected to be even greater.



[email protected] Park Kyung-ho Reporter