Controversy over the August issue of Billboard Magazine featuring BTS members continues as the popular K-pop store COKODIVE has decided to back out from selling it. The store was initially quite excited about selling the magazine until Army came forward with criticisms against the publication for including offensive and controversial questions in the interview.
COKODIVE released an official statement on August 27 explaining why it will not be selling the August issue of Billboard magazine that featured a cover story and a photoshoot of the seven-member boy group. The store revealed that it will choose respect over money and has decided to back out from selling the magazine.
On August 27, the store shared the magazine cover on Instagram with the caption: "So, who is the hottest? Yeah, you know it." Soon, the comment section started getting flooded with messages from people asking Army not to buy it.
The messages ranged from, "Army do not buy it or support in any way" and "Army does not buy the magazine it has really bad interviews with BTS" to "The interview is so horrible! Please do not buy it".
Some netizens also requested the store not to sell the magazine because Billboard disrespected BTS and the fandom in the interview. A few of the Instagram users also suggested Army print the pictures out.
Here is Why COKODIVE is Not Selling Billboard's BTS Magazine
Shortly, COKODIVE released an official statement explaining the store's plans to back out from selling the magazine. The store stated that it has decided not to sell the magazine because of the contents in it.
"COKODIVE won't accept any insult, disrespect, and discrimination towards any artist we support. Of course, we can make a profit by selling this magazine that has many beautiful photos of BTS as a business but if the contents of the articles do not match with the beautiful photos, we won't sell a single of them. We are here to do business but first, we are here to be true friends with the artists and fandom. Friends don't hurt each other period," the store stated.
BTS Army decided to boycott the magazine after going through the content of it that had discussions about chart manipulation and fans' involvement in it. The fans demanded an apology from the publication for including the quotes of Olivia Rodrigo and Dua Lipa's fans in the interview. According to the fans, the publication did not focus on the boy band's success.
