BTS cancels trip to US following postponement of Grammys

K-pop boy group BTS / Courtesy of Big Hit Music

By Dong Sun-hwa

K-pop titans BTS have canceled their plans to visit the U.S. after this year's Grammy Awards were postponed due to Omicron variant concerns.

The seven-piece act was originally scheduled to board a flight bound for the U.S. later this month to be at the prestigious music awards ceremony as a nominee, but had to abandon that plan after the Recording Academy ― the organizer of the award ceremony ― announced the postponement of the event, which was initially set for Jan. 31 (U.S. time) in Los Angeles. In the U.S., the number of new COVID-19 cases reached 547,613 on Jan. 4.

“After hearing the news about the delay, we have stopped preparing for our U.S. visit,” BTS' management company Big Hit Music said Thursday.

The Recording Academy and broadcaster CBS broke the news about the rescheduling through a joint statement, Jan. 5.

“The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority,” read the statement. “Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music's Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon.”

BTS, comprising RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, were nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at this year's Grammys. This is the second time that the septet has earned a Grammy nomination, after scoring its first nod in 2020.

BTS members, who are currently having an extended break, were expected to resume their musical activities later this month by taking part in the Grammys, but now it is unclear when their break will end. BigHit Music only hinted that the group is going to play its Seoul concert in March as initially planned.