BTS Fans Sign Petition in Support of Suga After DUI Incident

BTS‘ Suga has been facing intense media scrutiny following a drunk-driving incident last month, but his fans are letting him know they still support him by signing a global petition.

A collective of BTS fans around the world shared their message across social media platforms on Monday. It followed a weekend of online commentators stating that Suga should leave BTS.

“The Global ARMY Alliance supports all seven members of BTS,” they wrote. The Global ARMY Union represents 127 groups of BTS fans around South Korea and elsewhere overseas and makes clear that they support all seven members of BTS.

The incident took place in Seoul on Aug. 6 when Suga fell off an electric scooter. He was brought in for questioning by the police and had his license revoked. Police would later reveal his blood alcohol concentration was at 0.227, which is three times the level in which a license would typically be revoked in South Korea. Any level over 0.2 can often lead to jail time and a hefty fine.

Suga was the first to break the news to his fans, posting on the Weverse fan platform. “I bow my head and apologize to those who have been hurt by my carelessness and wrong action,” he said the day after the incident. However, his apology and the lack of damage caused by the incident did not deter a media frenzy in South Korea, which included a host of misinformation about the incident and national outrage at what was deemed a soft punishment for the star. Members of parliament have gone so far as to petition to change the laws surrounding scooters, making the handling of such devices equivalent to that of a car.

In response, Suga released another apology on Aug. 24: “Due to this incident, I have greatly damaged the precious memories I made with the members and fans and put a lot of pressure on the name of BTS. I feel so sorry and painful that it’s hard to express because it’s causing damage to the members and the team. I’m sorry that the members who always trusted me have a hard time because of me,” he posted on Weverse.