Stray Kids, one of K-pop's flagship acts, has declared a boycott of the Grammy Awards, following BTS.
JYP Entertainment said Stray Kids will not submit music for consideration at the 69th Grammy Awards next year, according to Billboard and the BBC on the 2nd.
The decision came a day after the Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammys, announced it would go ahead with a new award for Asian pop.
Stray Kids had been seen as a strong contender in the Asian pop category. The group has topped the Billboard 200, the main album chart, nine times — the second-most No. 1 albums after the Beatles. All eight members hold Grammy voting rights.
The BBC said the boycott by Stray Kids would deal a significant blow to the Grammys.
With leading contenders announcing boycotts one after another, attention is turning to whether other K-pop artists will follow. Hongjoong, the leader of the group Ateez, said in a recent interview with Variety that he personally sympathized with the stance taken by BTS and that he wanted to think the issue over himself.
The Grammys drew criticism in June when they announced plans to create a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, grouping together music from South Korea, China, Japan and elsewhere in Asia. Critics said the move amounted to relegating K-pop to a special category instead of the main awards, even though the genre has become mainstream music.
BTS immediately announced a boycott at the time, saying it hoped music would be heard and loved as music itself rather than divided by region or language.
The Recording Academy, which had appeared to back down in the face of criticism, hardened its position a day earlier, saying voices supporting the new Asian pop category were louder and that the award would proceed at next year's ceremony.
