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ARMY slam Vernon as he's forced to talk about BTS' past, Seventeen fans say 'wasn't shady'

An American interviewer came under fire as he asked if K-pop boy group Seventeen ever thought they would be as big as BTS

NEW YORK, USA: Seventeen were recently in USA for their explosive and sold out world tour 'Be The Sun' and we got some iconic moments. However, along with the fun concerts, there were also some instances fans hoped Seventeen would never have to experience again like the racist boys they played basketball with. And now, Seventeen's Vernon is caught in the crossfire as an interviewer asked him about BTS' past.

ARMY (BTS' fandom) and other K-pop fans are more than tired with international interviewers always asking other groups about BTS' success and making comparisons. Well, an interviewer at Sirius XM is being slammed for insulting Seventeen as he asked them if they ever thought they would ever be as big as BTS. And while Seventeen's Vernon handled it professionally, some ARMY have been irked by his words.

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Seventeen's Vernon asked about BTS

Sirius XM recently released their interview with Seventeen's DK, Seungkwan and Vernon when they were in New York for their tour. Vernon had been praised for leading the interview and helping the Korean members speak in English and translate for them. However, the comments section of the video was bashing the interviewer as he kept asking generic questions. And at one point, he brought up BTS.

The interviewer asked, "When you started the band, there's no way you expected that you'd be up there just like BTS. That you'd be at the same level as BTS." To this, Vernon replied, "When we debuted, BTS wasn't the BTS today either. So, it's really crazy what we're doing right now and where we are at right now." Seventeen debuted in 2015, while BTS was already in their second year. BTS had already made their breakthrough in South Korea which was impressive as they did not come from a Big 3 K-pop Label (JYPE, YG, SM), but Vernon was talking about the phenomenal global growth of BTS in 2021-2022 that the interviewer asked about. While ARMY often accept BTS' humble past, some misunderstood Vernon's words as they thought he was saying BTS was not popular in 2015.

'Leave the man alone'

Carats (Seventeen's fandom) and some ARMY too are trying to explain so as not to cause a fanwar. One ARMY tweeted, "I mean, bts 7 years ago truly WEREN'T the same as they are now. Y'all should be more upset at the interviewer putting svt on the spot by comparing them with bts instead of vernon for just answering the question the best way he could in that moment."

A Carat said, "It was so unnecessary of the interviewer to mention bts and vernon handled very well without being disrespectful to bts so you all need to stop and leave the man alone." Another fan added, "Vernon didn’t mean anything in a negative way. Of course no group is gonna be the same as they were 7 years ago. Yes bts were successful in 2015 & he’s just saying how they’ve grown a lot since then! it wasn’t a shady comment. Do you expect a group to always be the same everyyear."

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