Charlie Puth calls out BTS Army while addressing toxic fan culture, Army tells him 'stop using the Internet'
Charlie Puth has drawn the ire of BTS' Army after calling out comments that attacked him for "using BTS for clout." In a series of tweets, Puth shared, "I don’t usually pay any mind to things like this, but something has to be said. This dangerous, toxic, internet screaming match between 'fandoms' has to stop. I'm 28 years old, so it doesn't really mean anything to me when some person I don't know writes a nasty message to me saying things like 'I used BTS for clout'. I don't know what that means — I love those guys and they are super talented."
Puth and BTS got to share the stage together virtually back in 2018 for the Genie Music Awards during which he sang a duet of his hit song 'We Don't Talk Anymore' with BTS' Jungkook, who previously made waves after covering the same track. Since then, Puth has unfortunately been at the receiving end of some rather unsavory comments from a section of the BTS fandom.
Puth's tweets continued, "But what I do know is that 10 years ago, language like this directed towards me would've affected me deeply in a very negative way. And I'm thinking about all the other younger kids on twitter seeing stuff like this on a daily basis." He added, "It may sound cliche, but please be nicer to each other on here. No more screaming about made-up nonsense. It does nobody any good. We all need to love each other MORE THAN EVER RIGHT NOW."
A stream of supportive tweets soon followed, with many agreeing with Puth's message. One user said, "Seriously! This stuff is getting out of hand! Sad you even have to say anything," while another shared, "The toxicity that’s to end! It’s ridiculous! Everyone is fighting their own battles everyday and the world itself is going through turmoil. Everyone should be more supportive instead of spewing hatred. We love you Charlie! Thank you for your message."
One stated, "Don't listen to bad comments. They are everywhere, in every corner of the world, in every fandom. Unfortunately, a lot of ppl are bored right now and have nothing better to do than to spit out hate. Just do you and don’t worry about the haters no matter what fandom they’re from!" A tweet read, "Ur so right, the internet has become so toxic lately." Rather ironically, another user responded, "I read it 'ur so toxic' and my first thought was this, along with a gif that read, 'I'm gonna fight you'." Some users were a little more pointed with their support, tweeting, "Can't believe these 12-year-olds really think you care what they say about you."
But, as has become the norm on Twitter, negative and attacking tweets followed almost instantly, with several being from Armys who were evidently unhappy with what Puth had to say. "Then why are you crying about it? you are trending now, is that what you wanted? nice marketing," stated one user, "We're not buying ur song sir," said one user while another tweeted, "If you think the internet is toxic then just stop using it." One user stated, "Mr Charlie Puth nobody brought your a** up- we forgot," while another tweeted, "The only time we bring you up is when we talkin bout how jungkook ate your a** up with that cover stage."
"Who told Charlie Puth to speak? don’t nobody care about what you have to say," read another tweet, "And he is acting like He didn't use the boys to gain the k-pop community attention lol," stated one Army while another shared, "Bringing up BTS when no one was talking about their relationship with you was not the move." But this isn't particularly accurate, considering Puth's statements are in direct response to the consistent online attacks he has been on the receiving end of.
One user shared, "Some girl on TikTok told Armys to spam Charlie Puth with comments saying "Remember when you used Jungkook” for absolutely no reason and people did it." Another said, "TikTok Armys has been spamming his comments saying things like 'remember when you use jk for clout' so Charlie Puth addressed it. but it's making us look bad when it was only TikTok Armys," and one stated, "It’s literally only 10% of the fandom, please don’t generalize" while one Army tweeted, "Go write this on tik tok leave twt stans out of it."
But not all users were quick to defend their fandom, with some addressing what Puth was talking about: toxicity in online spaces. "Charlie Puth just called out Army for being toxic. Like when are y’all gonna f**king learn. He just said exactly what we’ve ALL been saying. Will you LISTEN NOW?" asked one user as several others called out the Army for being "a fandom who hate on others for not having the same opinions as you."
Ultimately, K-pop fans on Twitter did what they've been doing a lot of recently: they got Puth trending. And while most tweets were filled with Armys continuing to attack Puth, others shared that while they had no particular negative feelings towards Puth himself, they simply "love...fancams more."