Online disruption of Trump rally highlights K-pop’s political hustle

NEW YORK: Legions of K-pop fans and TikTok users are taking credit for upending Donald Trump’s weekend rally a er block-reserving tickets with no intention to a end an event that was beset by an embarrassingly low turnout.

Prior to the event in Tulsa, Oklahoma – hyped as a major relaunch ahead of the November election -- Trump’s campaign chairman tweeted that more than a million tickets had been requested.

But according to the local fire department, just 6,200 people a ended.

Viral posts on TikTok and Twi er revealed that plans to reserve tickets en masse had been circulating for days, racking up hundreds of thousands of views.

One video urged fans of the South Korean “K-pop” sensation BTS – one of the world’s most popular bands, with more than 21 million Twi er followers – to participate in the plot.

“Oh no, I signed up for a Trump rally, and I can’t go,” said one woman who coughed sarcastically in a separate TikTok video.

Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, blamed “radical protestors” for “interfering” with the rally.

But Alexandria OcasioCortez, the 30-year-old le ist congresswoman from New York, clapped back: “You just got ROCKED by teens on TikTok.”

“KPop allies, we see and appreciate your contributions in the fight for justice too,” she added.

‘Socially conscious’ fans

Though ascertaining the concrete impact of the viral campaign on the rally’s a endance is near impossible, the action spotlighted K-pop’s tradition as a politically engaged fandom.

Just in the past month, fans of the globally dominant pop genre – which was born approximately 25 years ago in South Korea – co-opted the hashtag #WhiteLivesMa er by flooding it with K-pop related imagery to drown out racist tweets.

“K-pop has a culture of being responsible,” said CedarBough Saeji, an academic expert of the genre based out of Indiana University.

“K-pop fans in general are outward-looking, socially conscious people and K-pop in the United States is very heavily supported by people of colour, by people who identify as being LGBTQ,” she told AFP.

K-pop superstars, known as idols, are expected to be role models, Saeji explained, and o en inspire ardent fandoms.

Though adorers would o en send gi s to their favourite performers, many stars instead ask support be sent to charities instead.

A er BTS dropped US$1 million behind the Black Lives Ma er movement, a fan collective charity – known as One in An ARMY – raised another million to match.

“BTS songs have played a role in motivating us to be confident with ourselves, to be kind to others, and to be there for one another,” said Dawnica Nadora, a 27-year-old volunteer for the charity’s US arm.

In 2018 the powerhouse boy band addressed the United Nations, urging young people to engage their own convictions.

Saeiji pointed to a “messaging of positivity” behind the current activism from fans.

“K-pop a racts people who like this kind of music but also who want to make the world a be er place.”

‘Powerful flex’

That socially conscious a itude coupled with internet savvy makes K-pop fandom a mighty force.

“Fans are online all the time... K-pop organizers are primarily on Twi er,” said Saeiji, who said fans’ understanding of internet algorithms makes them a powerful group when it comes to online organizing.

According to the social media platform, #KpopTwi er posted a record 6.1 billion tweets in 2019.

“We are very lucky that ARMYs support one another, despite o en being thousands of miles away from each other,” volunteer and BTS fan Nadora told AFP.