A mix of K-Pop fans and Tik Tok users on mass booked tickets for US President Donald Trump's first political rally in months in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The BOK arena in Tulsa has a capacity of 19,000. On Sunday, the Tulsa Fire Department recorded around 6200 people who attended the rally.
So who was behind this movement?
The momentum for the stunt began after Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old grandmother from Iowa, suggested people book tickets to Trump’s rally -- and not show up.
“All of those of us that want to see this 19,000 seat auditorium barely filled or completely empty go reserve tickets now and leave him standing alone there on the stage,” Laupp said.
Laupp references Trump’s scheduling of the rally as a prime reason for her call out.
“I had educated myself...and understood better why black content creators on various social platforms were really upset and frustrated on the original plan of Juneteeth for the rally in Tusla,” Laupp told CNN.
“We as American citizens owe it to marginalised communities to know those parts of history.”
So what is ‘Juneteenth’? It’s June 19, the day that commeratres the end of slavery in America and the freedom of African Americans.
There was additional anger over where the rally was taking place, in Tulsa. The Tulsa Race Massacre, 99 years ago, saw up to 300 African Americans killed by groups of white people. It’s been recognised as one of the country’s worst race riots.
Youtuber Elijah Daniel in an interview with the New York Times explained how the stunt was possible. Daniel mentioned it spread through ‘Alt Tik Tok’ which is the antithesis of the viral dances that have become synonymous with the app.
“The majority of people who made them deleted them after the first day because we didn’t want the Trump campaign to catch wind..These kids are smart and they thought of everything,” Daniel told the New York Times.
He took to Twitter to see just how many other people were able to reserve tickets.
Violet, 14-years-old, is one of the people who decided to reserve tickets. She’s based in Toronto, Canada, and found out about the plan to reserve tickets from Daniel. She ended up getting a hold of ten tickets.
“I got involved because I think that the only way we can fight Trump is if we hit him where it hurts,” Violet told The Feed.
She says Daniel orchestrated the plan on Alt Tik Tok, which she describes as “gay Tik Tok or every other part of Tik Tik that isn’t dancing.”
“When I saw those empty seats, I felt that we won,” she said.
