Seventeen’s Vernon shuts down comparison to BTS, clarifies band's debut time frame

Popular K-pop band Seventeen's member Vernon had to face a tricky question during his recent visit to radio station SiriusXM Hits 1. Vernon who was present along with members DK, and Seungkwan spoke about expanding their promotions to North America and more.

Amid his conversation, a question put forward by host Tony Simon became a heated topic of discussion online, as many netizens felt that the host made a disrespectful comment. As per allkpop, during the interview, while listing out some of Seventeen's recent achievements in the U.S., the host compared them with global boyband BTS.

Seventeen member Vernon shuts down comparison to BTS

During the interaction, right after the host listed multiple Billboard achievements and sales records set by SEVENTEEN, he nonchalantly remarked, "[When] starting the band, there's no way you would expect that 'Okay, we're gonna be out there just like BTS. We'll be at the same level as BTS'." 

While the question was tricky and left many BTS fans disappointed, Vernon’s simple and diplomatic reply to the host was something that won him appreciation from many. While keeping his stance clear on the question, Vernon said, "When we debuted, BTS wasn’t the BTS today, you know. So yeah, it’s really crazy what we’re doing right now, where we’re at right now."

The way Vernon tackled the question and have a clear response, sparked a fan war between the SEVENTEEN and BTS fandoms who both rose to defend their respective groups.  The ARMY felt that the host's mention of BTS was "disrespectful" and "unnecessary", and slammed the underlying connotations of comparison. On the other hand, the Seventeen member was commended well for handling the question really well. 

One of the Twitter users praises Vernon and wrote, "my love Vernon!kpop is not about bts guys, stop mentioning bts in other boy group interviews or something wkwk." Another user echoed similar sentiments and wrote, "And what Vernon said was not disrespectful to bts...he just said that its crazy that they all have grown so much in the past year." 

IMAGE: Instagram/Dollyschwe/AP