K-pop juggernauts BTS will reportedly be unable to attend this year’s Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA).
Yesterday (December 1), the South Korean government announced that from Friday (December 3) all overseas arrivals to the East Asian country would have to quarantine for 10 days, in an effort to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. The new quarantine mandate is currently applied to all inbound travelers regardless of their vaccination status, per the South China Morning Post.
According to a new report from Yonhap News Agency, the septet will have to undergo the 10-day quarantine, as they are only scheduled to return to South Korea after their appearance at the Los Angeles stop of the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour on Friday. The boyband had been in the US for their four-night ‘Permission To Dance On Stage’ concerts.
As such, BTS would reportedly be unable to attend the 2021 MAMA ceremony, which is set to take place on December 11. The awards show’s organiser, cable channel Mnet, has yet to confirm whether BTS will attend the event, telling Yonhap that the issue is under discussion.
BTS are up for the most nominations of any act at the awards. They have been nominated in the categories of Best Male Group, Best Dance Performance Male Group for ‘Butter’, Best Collaboration for their joint single ‘My Universe’ with British band Coldplay, as well as the fan-voted Worldwide Icon of the Year and Worldwide Fans’ Choice Top 10 categories.
The 2021 MAMA will also see a star-studded line-up of performances from 12 K-pop groups, including Tomorrow X Together (TXT), aespa, NCT 127 and NCT Dream, among other top acts.
Special appearances from British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and contestants from reality dance competition Street Woman Fighter had also been previously announced. The former will be performing a “new version” of his chart-topping single, ‘Bad Habits’, exclusively for the awards show.
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