HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / MUSIC

#BTScouldAlsoStandFor: Army seeks 'respect' for BTS after Internet makes a game out of band's name

From hating on their sound to attacking their ethnicity and gender, Twitter was certainly doing its best to rile up the Army. But it appears they're trying to take the high road this time around

An innocent hashtag game has turned into a fan war after Acronym Alternatives asked Twitter what #BTScouldAlsoStandFor and it resulted in a host of jokes being made at the expense of BTS. And naturally, the Army was not happy, electing instead to take over the hashtag with positive responses promoting the group's upcoming single, 'Dynamite'.

Acronym Alternatives is a Twitter account that takes popular acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms and turns them into a hashtag game. One of their more recent games was using the acronym 'BTS', which originally stood for the Korean expression 'Bangtan Sonyeondan' or 'Bulletproof Boy Scouts'. The group later expanded the name to also stand for 'Beyond the Scene', which was their way of expressing that they had progressed beyond being the Bangtan Boys into a musical act that represented so much more. The #BTScouldAlsoStandFor game should really have been a fun way for people to think of other things the acronym could stand for, but unfortunately, it simply drew out several BTS anti-fans, turning the game into something rather ugly and prompting the BTS fandom to call out the Acronym Alternatives account for knowingly inviting the drama.

Considering the same account has shared BTS content before, more recently promoting 'Dynamite', it appears they were fully aware of the BTS name when they sent out their hashtag game tweet. But they have denied they had any ill intentions and have since been retweeting some nicer tweets from Armys who jumped in on the game.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to stop the negativity. While several tweets were seemingly harmless, with some having nothing to do with BTS at all, several others were more direct attacks on the boys and their brand.

BTS has received a significant amount of support from its millions of fans worldwide since their debut in 2013, but they have unfortunately received just as much hate in the years that followed. And while some commentary might fall under valid critique of their work and message, a large portion of it appears to stem from people who dislike the group and its fandom or, in some cases, K-pop itself. 

But the hate soon turned racist and homophobic, angering the Army even more.

Fans soon noted that the hosts who run Acronym Alternatives have tweeted against K-pop in the past, drawing a new wave of criticism their way and further confirming to the Army that they purposefully created the BTS hashtag to stir up the fans and antis alike.

But it appears several within the Army fandom are choosing to take the high road this time around, declaring they'd much rather focus on the music than the hate by invoking a 'lockdown', which, for the Army, is a period around a BTS comeback during which they hone in on new content from the group and stream their music relentlessly in an effort to help the group break new records and win more awards.