K-pop idol group and Special Presidential Envoy for Future Generations and Culture BTS and Megan Thee Stallion finally met in New York City.
Last Aug. 27, BTS released the “Butter (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)” remix. The collaboration helped “Butter” return to the No. 1 spot for the 10th time on the Billboard Hot 100 on the Sept. 11-dated chart.
Megan Thee Stallion posted photos with BTS taken on a rooftop in New York City on Sept. 21 (Sept. 22 in the Philippines).
“It’s Thee Hot Girl Coach and BTS @BTS_twt,” Megan Thee Stallion captioned the photos. BTS also uploaded the photos on Twitter with the caption “Butter crew @theestallion.”
The meeting took place after BTS spoke before world leaders at the second Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Moment of the Decade of Action meeting held in the United Nations General Assembly Hall on Sept. 20. A video of BTS performing "Permission to Dance" inside the hall and surrounding areas was also shown during the SDG Moment.
After which, BTS and South Korea’s First Lady Kim Jung-sook visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met, in New York City on Sept. 20.
The “Butter (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)” remix was almost not released when Megan Thee Stallion’s label tried to block it.
Megan Thee Stallion filed with a Texas court a request for a temporary restraining order against her label 1501 Certified Entertainment and its CEO Carl Crawford, saying they were trying to prevent her from releasing the “Butter” remix.
On Aug. 24, the Harris County District Court in Texas ruled in favor of Megan Thee Stallion and granted her request for a temporary restraining order.
Manila Bulletin obtained a copy of the Texas court’s decision that stated that “after considering Plaintiff’s Supplemental Original Petition, Original Jury Demand, Application for Declaratory Relief, Application for Ex Parte Temporary Restraining Order, and Application for Temporary and Permanent Injunction, the pleadings, the declarations, evidence, controlling law, and arguments of counsel, the Court finds that the Application for Temporary Restraining Order has merit.”
“The Court further finds there is evidence that irreparable harm is imminent to Plaintiff MEGAN PETE (‘Pete’) and that Pete has met her burden to show that she is entitled to an ex parte temporary restraining order, that Pete has a likelihood of prevailing on the merits, that there is no adequate remedy at law. and that a temporary restraining order is necessary, proper and supported by the evidence and law” the decision read.
It added, “The Court further finds that failure to enter a temporary restraining order at this time would cause irreparable injury, and it is appropriate to grant this relief ex parte (as to any parties who do not have notice), and that there is no other adequate remedy at law. Specifically, Pete has provided evidence that Defendants 1501 Certified Entertainment LLC (‘1501’) and Carl Crawford (‘Crawford’), and added Defendants Theory Entertainment LLC d/b/a 300 Entertainment (‘300 Entertainment’),and James Prince (‘Prince’) (collectively, ‘Defendants’) and/or their agents have recently engaged and will continue to engage in conduct preventing the release of her new music, which would irreparably damage her goodwill. reputation, and overall music career and infringes on her rights to self-expression through her music.”
The court ordered the defendants to “immediately cease and desist from doing anything to prevent the release, distribution, and sale of Pete's music, including but not limited to the BTS music/track featuring Pete scheduled for release on August 27, 2021; to immediately refrain from preventing the release, distribution, or sale of any of Pete's music; and to preserve any and all documents, recordings, posts. Blogs, tweets, or other communication relating to (i) Pete and her collaboration with BTS; (ii) the release of any upcoming music; (iii) relating to licensing, sale, or distribution of her music; and/or (iv) attempts to restrain, limit, or prevent Pete from freely engaging in her artistic expression. B. This Order shall be extended to include Defendants Theory Entertainment LLC d/b/a 300 Entertainment and James Prince.”
In an interview with Evening Standard, Megan Thee Stallion said she fought for the “Butter” remix to be released because “I’m always going to fight for myself, I’m always going to stand up for myself. I feel like how dare anybody try to silence me? My label was just like, ‘Oh, we don’t like the song, so you’re not putting it out,’ and I’m like, ‘Since when has anybody ever been able to do that in the history of ever? That doesn’t even make any sense.’”
“I want to do a song with BTS, I’m a fan. How are y’all just going to randomly crush my dreams. I’m like, ‘Oh hell no. I prayed on this, I manifested this and I’m not going to let anything get in the way of it.’ This is my first time to be able to touch international Hotties. It’s just a new opportunity to spread Megan, it’s a new opportunity to spread the positivity that I want to spread in the world. So I did everything I could do to get it out and now that it’s out we all feel such a relief and we feel so happy,” she added.