Big Hit Entertainment Releases Statement About Suga's Mixtape Sampling Controversy

On May 31, Big Hit Entertainment issued an official statement about the use of a controversial sample in the song “What Do You Think?” from BTS’ Suga (Agust D)’s mixtape “D-2.”

The sample in question comes from a 1977 speech given by Jim Jones, an American cult leader who was responsible for a mass murder-suicide at the remote commune known as “Jonestown.”

Big Hit Entertainment’s statement reads:

Hello, this is Big Hit Entertainment. This is our official statement on the issue of BTS’ Suga’s mixtape.

The vocal sample of the speech in the introduction of the song “What Do You Think?” on the mixtape was selected without any special intent by the producer who worked on the track, who was unaware of the identity of the speaker and used the sample for the overall atmosphere of the song.

After the speech sample was selected, the company followed our internal process and carried out procedures for reviewing the appropriateness of the content. However, in both the selection and review processes, we committed an error in not recognizing the inappropriateness of the content and including the sample in the song.

Big Hit Entertainment has processes for reviewing its diverse content targeted toward a global audience for potential social, cultural, and historical issues. However, we are experiencing the reality that there are limits to understanding and correctly responding to every situation. In this case, we were not able to recognize the issue in advance and displayed a lack of understanding about the relevant historical and social issues. We apologize to those who felt uncomfortable or hurt because of this.

Big Hit Entertainment has removed the part of the song in question and re-released the new version.

The artist also feels embarrassed and deeply responsible for a problem that has arisen in an area that he did not consider.

Big Hit Entertainment will use this incident as a lesson to conduct its production process more thoroughly.

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