Some BTS fans are wondering why they weren’t recognised at the VMAs

The MTV VMAs purport to celebrate the best music videos in the industry, dishing out genre awards for rock and hip hop alongside specific categories for cinematography, choreography, direction, and visual effects. So it was surprising that one group who excel in all of these areas weren’t nominated for a single award – BTS, the K-pop superstars who’ve made major in-roads in America.

Both casual fans of BTS and the more committed members of ARMY, the Korean boy group’s fandom, voiced their disappointment on social media. “BTS should be at the VMAs tonight picking up the award of best choreography for ‘Fake Love’,” wrote one user on Twitter. “I don’t even understand why the nominees are nominated in that category, no one is dancing.”

“BTS should honestly be at the VMAs because they’ve had some of the best music videos in the industry and also have beat so many goals when it comes to views and they should at least be freaking recognised for that,” wrote another.

“The VMAs tonight proved one thing. Despite a year of record breaking sales and doing things no other K-pop act has ever here on the USA, BTS still isn’t ‘trendy’ enough to even be nominated! It’s a shame that true artistry isn’t celebrated more,” said one fan.

Earlier this year, BTS’s Love Yourself: Tear became the first K-pop album to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the US. With this in mind, it becomes a lot harder to justify the band’s exclusion from the awards – a chart-topping album should, by all accounts, make you a major player in the American music industry, while the group’s emphasis on high concept visuals and complex choreography should make them a shoo-in for a ceremony that specifically celebrates these things.

BTS fans also argued that, given the devotion the band inspire in their fans (their first ever US stadium show sold out in 20 minutes), their presence at the VMAs would help the broadcast’s dwindling viewing figures. In 2017, the VMAs drew just 2.6 million live viewers, though the number rose to 5.5 million when counting views through simulcasts, according to Rolling Stone.

“Maybe if the VMAs had invited the biggest boy group in the world, this wouldn’t have (happened),” wrote one fan account, sharing screenshots of the VMAs’ viewing figures.

Still, BTS’s absence – both in the nominations and on the red carpet – didn’t matter to some fans. As Metro report, many of them photoshopped the group arriving on the VMAs red carpet and posted the images on social media. Check those out below, and revisit our interview with BTS’s RM here.