As thousands of Donald Trump’s supporters protested his election defeat over the weekend, defiant K-pop fans and Tik Tok users flooded the #MillionMagaMarch hashtag with photos of pancakes.
Violent clashes erupted in Washington DC on Saturday as President Trump’s supporters repeated his baseless claims about electoral fraud.
Drowning out the misinformation circulating online, K-pop fans and teenagers on Tik Tok put a spin on President Trump’s catch-cry, calling on users to ‘Make America Pancake Again’.
“Nothing flips blue like blueberry pancakes and maybe Arizona,” one captioned an image of blueberry pancakes.
“Here's some pancakes to eat while crying when trumps loss finally sets in,” one person wrote.
“Your failed leader is bananas, so enjoy these delicious pancakes,” added another user.
The TikTok kids are posting pictures of pancakes to overwhelm the #MillionMAGAMarch hashtag. I made scallion pancakes this morning, so here’s my Chinese American contribution! pic.twitter.com/CEHq7jJ6Ua — Jay Kuo (@nycjayjay) November 14, 2020
Actress Shea Depmore started the trend on Thursday after posting a Tik Tok video that called on K-pop fans - who she later referred to as the “guardians of the internet” - to get on board.
“We are going to hold a Pancake Bitchez Million MAPA Brunch! That’s right, Make America Pancakes Again,” Ms Depmore said in her call-out video.
“Fill the hashtag Million MAGA March with syrupy goodness. Someone, please inform the K-pop stans.”
Ms Depmore told The Feed she started the campaign after being tagged in several videos that warned people to stay away from the event “because all the Proud Boys and white supremacists” would be there.
“I do political comedy on Tik Tok, so I wanted something that would be silly enough to like, get people to watch the video,” Ms Depmore said.
“At first, I wanted to replace MAGA. I wanted to replace the ‘G’ but I couldn't come up with something that tickled me as much as the idea of pancakes,” she said.
Related
Who are the Proud Boys?
During the first presidential debate in September, President Trump refused to outrightly condemn the far-right extremist group, The Proud Boys.
"The Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Mr Trump said at the time.
"But I'll tell you what, somebody has got to do something about Antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem, it's a left-wing problem,” he added.
While the US struggles to stay united, Ms Depmore said her mother - who works as a therapist - was pleased with the pancake takeover.
“She said ‘it's great because pancakes are warm and they bring people together’. She had this like, beautiful description for it,” she said.
“And it's just like, let's pretend like that's why. I really, that's a much more eloquent way of putting it. But I just was tickled by the idea of pancakes.”
The Feed spoke with Morgan, a 16-year-old from Missouri, who posted several images of pancakes on Twitter under the hashtag after watching the video on Tik Tok.
Morgan says she got involved because she thinks the way “Trump has run the country the past four years has been nothing short of a total embarrassment and disservice to all of us”.
“To me, getting involved was a way to show that this election is over, eligible Americans have spoken and collectively, we're not happy with the way he has handled the important events of his presidency,” she added.
It’s not the first time that teenagers on Tik Tok and K-pop fans have assembled to take down President Trump.
In June, Tik Tok users sabotaged President Trump’s Tulsa Rally by completing a free online registration for the event with no intention of ever going.
The digital campaign was sparked by Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old, who uses the hashtag TikTokGrandma. In a video posted on Tik Tok, she suggested people book tickets to Trump’s rally -- and not show up.
After K-pop fans boosted the campaign, it went viral, with just 6,200 people attending the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena.
Morgan says she believes that 16 year olds, like her, should be able to vote in elections.
“Adults push getting involved and getting ready for the ‘adult world’ really hard at this age and I believe that we should have a say into the world we are thrown into,” she said.
Ms Depmore says it was inspiring to see teenagers take political action, despite not being able to have a say on who becomes the next president.
“I get so many comments from people being like, ‘I can't vote but like I'm doing this’. There are a lot of people in high school, who are really using that platform to be politically powerful in a way,” Ms Depmore said.
“That’s definitely been really inspiring to see on my end.”
