President Trump’s rally on Saturday was unable to attract a crowd to fill even half the arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A Tulsa Fire Department official told ABC News that attendance was “just shy of 6,200” guests. The Bank of Oklahoma center can hold 19,199 at full capacity.
Tulsa Fire Dept tells ABC News “just shy of 6,200” people attended President Trump’s rally on Saturday. This official count is from the Fire Marshall who was on scene at the event per safety requirements, @ScottWithersABC reports. The BOK Center holds 19,199 ppl at full capacity.
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) June 21, 2020
Attendance was a far cry from the more than 1 million ticket requests the Trump campaign touted before the event. It appears as though TikTok users and fans of K-pop music groups pulled a prank on the campaign by making hundreds of thousands of fake requests. Shortly before the start of the rally, the campaign scrapped a speech to an overflow crowd outside of the venue.
The rally was the first in-person campaign event that Trump has done since the coronavirus pandemic forced shutdowns across the country.
The virus likely played a role in knocking down attendance as Oklahoma is one of 22 states witnessing a surge of coronavirus cases, prompting local health officials to raise the alarm. The campaign handed out masks, though very few people in the crowd had their faces covered. Six members of the Trump campaign tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday morning.
Trump and his team placed some blame on protests outside the event. The president said “some very bad people outside” tried to sabotage the rally.
There were no reports of major clashes between protesters and rally-goers. Tulsa police reported arresting only one woman who had entered a private event space near the stadium.
