What did BTS’ j-hope say about the UNICEF x LV bracelet? Details explored as idol gets backlash over Audemars Piguet watches

Recent Post

On August 23, 2026, BTS’ j-hope went live on Weverse following the group’s Toronto stop on the Arirang World Tour. During the broadcast, he showed a Louis Vuitton Silver Lockit Beads Bracelet in Sky Blue and described how he had purchased it at a Louis Vuitton store in the city.

In the Weverse live, j-hope spoke about the bracelet in these terms:

“The bracelet is cute, right? I saw this at a Louis Vuitton store in Toronto recently, and it was so cute that I bought it. I heard that you can also donate to a good cause through this, so I bought it with good intentions. I heard this is expensive… oh, I was really surprised. I was thinking about buying it, but I was surprised because it was more expensive than I expected.”

He also noted another bracelet he was wearing that Nigo had given him as a gift and said it had become one of his current favorites.

The Silver Lockit Beads Bracelet forms part of Louis Vuitton’s long-running partnership with UNICEF. Official product listings place the Sky Blue version at $765. Louis Vuitton’s materials for the Silver Lockit Beads Bracelet state that $150 from each sale is donated to UNICEF.

The House and UNICEF also describe the wider Lockit range as giving $100 to $200 per piece, depending on the design. After j-hope appeared with the piece, the style sold out on Louis Vuitton’s website.

On August 24, a separate clip from GQ Korea’s My Essentials With j-hope video circulated in which j-hope opens a compact travel watch roll containing several Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watches he keeps with him on tour.

The backlash arose after the GQ Korea video. Some compared his choice of words for the charity piece to his AP watch collection, which costs more than the LV bracelet. Comparable Audemars Piguet Royal Oak models that he owns are listed from about $32,000 to $95,000, according to August Man, WatchCharts, and Audemars Piguet U.S. retail figures.

Just thinking again of J-hope dating that bracelet for UNICEF was EXPENSIVE …. EXPENSIVE??????? That AP watch you wear costs about 50k USD. LIKE???????

On the other hand, many defended the idol, highlighting his association with UNICEF.

Translated from PortugueseJ-Hope is a member of the Green Noble Trinity Club, the Hope Bridge Honors Club, and the UNICEF Honors Club.​It’s literally millions of dollars in donations.​It makes NO SENSE whatsoever to question the value of the watch he receives from Audemars Piguet when he’s a member of the AP family.

BTS has run the Love Myself campaign with the Korean Committee for UNICEF since 2017. As reported by Yonhap, in February 2023, BTS’ j-hope donated 100 million won through that committee for children affected by the Turkey-Syria earthquake. He is also a documented high-level donor to other organizations, including ChildFund Korea’s Green Noble Trinity Club and the Hope Bridge Honors Club.

BTS’ j-hope’s AP watches and the GQ Korea video

GQ Korea released the My Essentials With j-hope video on August 24, 2026, as part of its September issue coverage with Louis Vuitton.

In the what’s-in-my-bag segment, BTS’ j-hope opened a compact travel watch case he said he keeps with him on tour. He told the magazine he brings several watches so he can change them with different stage outfits, that he wears watches often, and that he wears Audemars Piguet pieces a lot.

The case shown in the video held multiple Royal Oak-style timepieces. BTS’ j-hope has been publicly associated with Audemars Piguet since 2025 through the brand’s 150th-anniversary programming.