Before the success of BTS’ Bon Voyage and Run BTS!, there was BTS’ American Hustle Life. RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook traveled to Los Angeles to do some training and learn more about the entertainment industry.
One of the BTS boys’ mentors in L.A. was Tony Jones. He was a rapper at the time but now describes himself as a songwriter, clothing designer, and actor on social media.
BTS’ American Hustle Life was filmed back in 2014. Despite the language barrier, the boys quickly bonded with Tony Jones, especially Jimin, who was given the nickname “Chim Chim” by the rapper.
Their friendship didn’t end when BTS’ American Hustle Life wrapped up. In fact, the boys maintained a great bond with Tony Jones and even reunited with him when he went to Korea in 2015. A year later, BTS and Tony Jones reunited again at a restaurant in L.A. when RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook were invited to perform for KCON 2016 USA.
While ARMYs were happy to consider Tony Jones as part of the BTS family at first, they were upset with him after he seemingly used the boys for clout. The relationship between the rapper and ARMYs then quickly soured.
Earlier this month, Tony Jones addressed the incident and apologized for the past controversy. However, he noted that he didn’t use RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook for clout and it was all a misunderstanding.
“We put together, me and my partner at the time, we put together like a gathering, like a party, like a show, like a vibe, to where everyone would come out and get together and just vibe,” he said. “So, I think I made a mistake in calling it ARMY. ARMY Party. So, I think that was a mistake because people felt like I was trying to piggyback off a certain group, off of them, trying to profit off them and make money off them.”
Tony Jones garnered a lot of ARMY followers because of his tight bond with BTS. So when he promoted an “ARMY” party, many believed that BTS was involved in the gathering in some way.
“One thing I do want to say, I apologize,” he said. “I’m sorry that I handled it that way. It was mishandled. I, we, we just mishandled the situation. We apologize, and I personally apologize, just for everything. I definitely don’t want to hurt anybody, make anybody feel bad.”
