Reports over the weekend suggests TikTok users and K-Pop fans reserved tickets to President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the weekend, leading to lower-than-expected turnout at the event.
- And apparently some of the teens who bought tickets were from Utah.
What happened:
- Hundreds of young people organized an online movement to sign up for tickets at Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last week, later confirming that the decision was a prank.
- Trump spoke at an arena that was barely half full, according to The New York Times. This confused advisers, who thought there would be a higher turnout.
- In fact, Trump said before the rally that close to 1 million people had requested tickets for the event, according to CNN.
Tulsa’s fire department said 6,200 people attended the rally, according to The New York Times.
- Many of these teens were deemed TikTok users and K-Pop fans, who have been organizing social media campaigns and movements in recent months.
Trump’s response:
- Trump’s campaign denied the claims about the social media campaign, according to BBC News. Brad Parscale, the team’s campaign director, said that “phony ticket requests never factor into our thinking.”
- “Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don’t know what they’re talking about or how our rallies work.”
- “Registering for a rally means you’ve RSVPed (confirmed attendance) with a cellphone number and we constantly weed out bogus numbers, as we did with tens of thousands at the Tulsa rally, in calculating our possible attendee pool.”
So what about Utah?
- Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist and a critic of Trump, said in a tweet that his daughter and her friends in Park City, Utah, had hundreds of tickets.
- He said: “You have been rolled by America’s teens. @realDonaldTrump you have been failed by your team. You have been deserted by your faithful. No one likes to root for the losing team.”
Other parents confirmed the news
As Time magazine highlighted, a number of parents tweeted that their teens took part in the campaign as well.
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Correction: This article previously said the TikTok users bought tickets. They signed up for seats and attendance.