The sentence "I purple you." was made by BTS' member V in November 2016 during the group's fan meeting.
At that time, ARMY (the name of BTS' fan club) lit up the stadium with their ARMY BOMB (BTS' official light stick) wrapped with a special purple cover as an event for BTS.
V said, "Everyone, do you know what the color purple means? It's the last color of the rainbow, so it means to trust and love each other for a long time."
He continued, "Actually, I just made that up now. But just like how that means, I would like to keep seeing you guys. I love you."
You would think that "I purple you." would stop spreading among fans, but it surprisingly did not stop there.
In July, Henrietta H. Fore―the Executive Director of UNICEF(United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), shared a video on UNICEF's website of her saying, "We here at UNICEF, purple you!", and Howie Mandel, who is known for his appearance in 'America's Got Talent', also used "I purple you" on his social media account in September.
(Lee Narin, Credit= Online Community, Big Hit Entertainment, UNICEF, 'howiemandel' Twitter)
(SBS Star)