Saying his piece. Charlie Puth responded to BTS Jungkook clout claims. The “Attention” singer took to his Twitter on Sunday, July 5, to respond to accusations that he used BTS member Jungkook for “clout” when they performed a duet of his song “We Don’t Talk Anymore” at the MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards in 2018.
“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,” Puth tweeted. “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.
The “Girlfriend” singer—who sang the recorded version of “We Don’t Talk Anymore” with Selena Gomez—went on to urge fans to “be nicer,” especially to those they don’t know. “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,” he tweeted. “And I’m thinking about all the other younger kids on twitter seeing stuff like this on a daily basis.”
The Grammy nominee continued, “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.”
After Puth’s tweets, many BTS fans apologized to the singer and specified that the ARMYs who accused him of clout chasing were the minority. “Hi Charlie,” Twitter user Melodymostly2 wrote. “I apologize on behalf of the mature ARMY. This is so embarrassing and thank you for being mature about this topic against you. Hope that you still have good eyes towards BTS. The fan doesn’t reflect their artist 100% which i’m sure u understand. Thank you and be happy.”
Twitter user @bangtaaannnieee wrote, “omayghad. leave @charlieputh alooone! he didn’t used BTS for clout and you can tell they are very good friends and they are respectful to each other! BTS even look up to Charlie Puth as an inspiration and you are degrading him! Charlie is a passionate man when it comes to music!
The “One Call Away” singer was accused of shade toward BTS and Jungkook in 2019 after he deleted his tweets about the member and the band. However, some ARMYs noted that Puth didn’t delete his tweets on purpose, but uses a service called DeleteTweets.com, which automatically deletes his tweets a year after he posts them.
In February 2017, Jungkook covered Puth’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” which the “Marvin Gaye” singer reacted to on his Twitter. “Love this Jungcook,” Puth tweeted at the time, misspelling Jungkook’s name. A month later, Puth tweeted that he enjoyed BTS’ music, which the band reciprocated. “I really like BTS’s music,” Puth wrote. In response, BTS tweeted, “We really like Charlie Puth’s music.”
In a radio interview in June 2017, Puth apologized for misspelling Jungkook’s name and hoped to meet the boys in real life. “I like BTS, I like Jungkook too,” he said at the time. “I just like them, I think they’re a fantastic band. I want to meet them in person one day and apologize to Jungkook for mispronouncing his name.”