Latest news with #T-MellonEvents
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Trump's military parade a big flop? Report reveals calls for seat fillers in exchange for $1,000 in crypto
Donald Trump's military parade scheduled to happen on Saturday (June 14) suffered a bizarre incident recently when a Craigslist ad appeared to ask people to be a part of the crowd as 'seat-fillers' in exchange for $1,000 in cryptocurrency. This is in regard to the parade being organized on Constitution Avenue in Washington DC on the occasion of the 250th Army Day and the President's 79th birthday celebrations. 'T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th,' read the ad. The crypto name wasn't mentioned although the payment was claimed to coming from a company called FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT LLC. The ad also requested these 'extras' to dress in red, blue, and white colors along with gold accessories. ALSO READ| Will the Trump military parade be televised? Here's where to stream it live 'Extras and Seat fillers will be paid a flat daily fee and will be provided a lunch of fast food and soda. We encourage people of color and ethnic groups to sign up for maximum perception control and these individuals will be prominently displayed on the televised broadcast and local viewing screens to be seen by the VIP platform,' it added. People were, however, quick to spot the gaps in this article and took to social media to express their disbelief. If it weren't obvious already, it appears the ad is completely fake and has been published as a way to crack a side joke at the already controversial parade. The company organizing this giveaway- T-Mellon Events- has no digital footprint of their company or work. The image shown in the ad is actually from a Russian military event and the FIGHT FIGHT LLC company has a share in the meme $TRUMP cryptocurrency. ALSO READ| 'Nobody's gonna be there': Trump fears empty birthday parade, insider says The event is scheduled to go on as planned. Tickets can be booked by registering via an online form.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Breaking down Craigslist ad seeking seat fillers on day of Trump's DC parade
On June 11, 2025, a screenshot of an alleged Craigslist advertisement seeking "seat fillers" for an event in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2025 — the same day as a military parade on U.S. President Donald Trump's birthday — began to make the rounds on social media. The purported ad read, in part: T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th. Extras and Seat fillers will check in on the morning of June 14th at 9:00 a.m. Extras are required to wear Red, White and Blue clothing and will be provided a RED hat to wear. GOLD accessories are acceptable as well. The team will advise the extras where to stand or sit according to the line of sight from a VIP viewing platform area. Extras and Seat fillers will be paid a flat daily fee and will be provided a lunch of fast food and encourage people of color and ethnic groups to sign up for maximum perception control and these individuals will be prominently displayed on the televised broadcast and local viewing screens to be seen by the VIP platform. It also listed compensation as a "flat fee of $1,000 paid in cryptocurrency - Provided by FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT LLC." One X post (archived) that shared the alleged advertisement garnered more than 1 million views and 28,000 likes as of this writing: Posts about the Craigslist ad seeking seat fillers also gained traction on TikTok (archived) and Facebook (archived). Dozens of Snopes readers emailed us and searched our website to ask if the Craigslist ad was real. The ad itself was real and was posted on Craigslist (archived) on June 10, 2025. Snopes was unable to definitively confirm whether the ad was a prank or posted by someone from Trump's camp, which is why we've left this claim unrated. However, several elements of the ad suggest it may have been intended as a joke. First, the company mentioned in the advertisement was listed as T-Mellon Events. Searches for "T-Mellon Events" on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and Yahoo did not return any results directing us to the supposed company. Instead, they showed news articles and social media posts about the Craigslist ad. The alleged company name could be a reference to billionaire and Trump megadonor Timothy Mellon, heir to Pittsburgh's Mellon banking family. Snopes also looked into the photo in the ad and found it wasn't taken in the United States. Using RevEye, a reverse image search tool, we found the original image shared by The Associated Press on May 9, 2025, captioned, "Russian servicemen attend the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 9, 2025, during celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II." The ad also said participants would receive a flat fee of $1,000 paid in cryptocurrency, which could be poking fun at Trump's crypto-related ventures. Fight Fight Fight LLC, the company listed in the ad as providing payment to seat fillers, administers Trump's meme coin. A customer support representative for the meme coin's website, told Snopes via an emailed statement: "It's fake, we have nothing to do with it." Snopes reached out to the White House and Craigslist for comment on the ad's authenticity, and will update this story if we receive a response. We also emailed an address associated with the ad and await a response. Social media posts that call out supposed Craigslist ads soliciting paid actors frequently pop up before events connected to Trump. Snopes investigated a Craigslist ad that offered to pay "minority actors" to hold signs at a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2020, and another soliciting actors to play Trump supporters in Phoenix in November 2019. For further reading, Snopes also looked into claims that a Craigslist ad proves the 2025 anti-ICE demonstrations in Los Angeles were orchestrated. "Seat Fillers Needed - June 14th - Constitution Avenue - DC - Talent Gigs - Craigslist." Craigslist, 10 June 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Debusmann Jr, Bernd. "Who Is Donald Trump's Reclusive New Mega-Donor, Timothy Mellon?" 21 June 2024, Accessed 12 June 2025. "AP PHOTOS: Russia's Victory Day Parade Begins." AP News, 9 May 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Weissert, Will, and Alan Suderman. "Trump Hosts Dinner for $TRUMP Meme Coin Investors, Raising Ethical Concerns." AP News, 22 May 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Khalili, Joel. "Trumpworld Is Fighting over 'Official' Crypto Wallet." WIRED, 4 June 2025, Accessed 12 June 2025. Ibrahim, Nur. "Did a Craigslist Ad Seek 'Minority Actors' for Trump's Tulsa Rally?" Snopes, 15 June 2020, Accessed 12 June 2025. Huberman, Bond. "Did a CraigsList Ad Seek Actors to Play Trump Supporters in Phoenix?" Snopes, 22 Nov. 2019, Accessed 12 June 2025. June 12, 2025: This story was updated to include comment from Fight Fight Fight LLC.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Craigslist post seeking military parade attendees is 'fake': White House
"Seat Fillers Needed - June 14th - Constitution Avenue - DC," reads the title of the June 10, 2025 post on Craigslist, a website for classified advertisements. The listing claims "compensation" will amount to a "Flat Fee of $1,000, paid in cryptocurrency" provided by "Fight Fight Fight LLC," a company affiliated with the launch of a Trump-themed meme coin in January. Its description continues: "T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th. Extras and Seat fillers will check in on the morning of June 14th at 9:00 a.m. Extras are required to wear Red, White and Blue clothing and will be provided a RED hat to wear. GOLD accessories are acceptable as well. The team will advise the extras where to stand or sit according to the line of sight from a VIP viewing platform area. Extras and Seat fillers will be paid a flat daily fee and will be provided a lunch of fast food and soda. We encourage people of color and ethnic groups to sign up for maximum perception control and these individuals will be prominently displayed on the televised broadcast and local viewing screens to be seen by the VIP platform." Screenshots of the advertisement rocketed across social media platforms including Facebook and X ahead of Trump's $45 million military parade, which is meant to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US Army but will also coincide with the Republican president's 79th birthday. "No one is going to trump's stupid parade so he has to hire seat fillers!" says a June 11 post sharing the listing on X. American troops have been transporting tanks and other hardware to the nation's capital for days for what will be the biggest parade in Washington since 1991, after the first Gulf War. The event is expected to see nearly 7,000 army soldiers march past historic landmarks including the Washington Monument, helicopters soaring overhead and military vehicles rumbling along the route. Protests of the heavily-fortified event -- which critics have likened to similar displays of military might in autocratic countries including Russia and North Korea -- are also anticipated. To accommodate the parade and its crowds, Washington is slated to experience road closures, disruptions at some public transit stations and a temporary suspension of all evening flights involving Reagan National Airport. The Craigslist post offering payments to potential attendees is not connected to the White House and does not appear to be sincere, however. AFP could find no evidence that any entity named "T-Mellon Events" exists. No other listing mentioning such a group appeared on Craigslist as of June 13 (archived here). The language of the listing also appears to make fun of Trump's ventures into cryptocurrency, obsession with crowd sizes and well-known love of McDonald's. "This is obviously a fake ad," White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told AFP in a June 12 email. "Thousands of Americans will join President Trump for the Army Birthday Parade because they are excited to honor our active-duty service members, veterans, and fallen heroes." Reverse image search reveals the picture attached to the listing is an Associated Press photo showing Russian servicemen at a May 9, 2025 military parade in Moscow celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II (archived here). Lisa Rodriguez-Presley, a spokesperson for the US Secret Service, also told AFP there will be no bleachers or seats along the parade route. The special agent in charge of the service's Washington field office said the same in a June 9 briefing -- negating the need for so-called "seat fillers" (archived here). He also said the event is not ticketed. Fight Fight Fight LLC, meanwhile, told TMZ and the US fact-checking website Snopes that the company had nothing to do with the Craigslist listing (archived here and here). AFP reached out to Fight Fight Fight LLC for comment, but no response was forthcoming. AFP also contacted the parade's organizers, Craigslist and the Craigslist account that posted the advertisement. The US Army declined to comment. AFP has previously debunked other misinformation around paid rally attendees here.
AFP
14 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
Craigslist post seeking military parade attendees is 'fake': White House
"Seat Fillers Needed - June 14th - Constitution Avenue - DC," reads the title of the June 10, 2025 post on Craigslist, a website for classified advertisements. Image Screenshot from Craigslist taken June 12, 2025 The listing claims "compensation" will amount to a "Flat Fee of $1,000, paid in cryptocurrency" provided by "Fight Fight Fight LLC," a company affiliated with the launch of a Trump-themed meme coin in January. Its description continues: "T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th. Extras and Seat fillers will check in on the morning of June 14th at 9:00 a.m. Extras are required to wear Red, White and Blue clothing and will be provided a RED hat to wear. GOLD accessories are acceptable as well. The team will advise the extras where to stand or sit according to the line of sight from a VIP viewing platform area. Extras and Seat fillers will be paid a flat daily fee and will be provided a lunch of fast food and soda. We encourage people of color and ethnic groups to sign up for maximum perception control and these individuals will be prominently displayed on the televised broadcast and local viewing screens to be seen by the VIP platform." Screenshots of the advertisement rocketed across social media platforms including Facebook and X ahead of Trump's $45 million military parade, which is meant to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US Army but will also coincide with the Republican president's 79th birthday. "No one is going to trump's stupid parade so he has to hire seat fillers!" says a June 11 post sharing the listing on X. American troops have been transporting tanks and other hardware to the nation's capital for days for what will be the biggest parade in Washington since 1991, after the first Gulf War. The event is expected to see nearly 7,000 army soldiers march past historic landmarks including the Washington Monument, helicopters soaring overhead and military vehicles rumbling along the route. Image Soldiers walk past a M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer taking part in the Army's 250th birthday celebration parade at West Potomac Park in Washington, DC on June 11, 2025 (AFP / Mandel NGAN) Protests of the heavily-fortified event -- which critics have likened to similar displays of military might in autocratic countries including Russia and North Korea -- are also anticipated. To accommodate the parade and its crowds, Washington is slated to experience road closures, disruptions at some public transit stations and a temporary suspension of all evening flights involving Reagan National Airport. The Craigslist post offering payments to potential attendees is not connected to the White House and does not appear to be sincere, however. AFP could find no evidence that any entity named "T-Mellon Events" exists. No other listing mentioning such a group appeared on Craigslist as of June 13 (archived here). The language of the listing also appears to make fun of Trump's ventures into cryptocurrency, obsession with crowd sizes and well-known love of McDonald's. "This is obviously a fake ad," White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told AFP in a June 12 email. "Thousands of Americans will join President Trump for the Army Birthday Parade because they are excited to honor our active-duty service members, veterans, and fallen heroes." Reverse image search reveals the picture attached to the listing is an Associated Press photo showing Russian servicemen at a May 9, 2025 military parade in Moscow celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II (archived here). Lisa Rodriguez-Presley, a spokesperson for the US Secret Service, also told AFP there will be no bleachers or seats along the parade route. The special agent in charge of the service's Washington field office said the same in a June 9 briefing -- negating the need for so-called "seat fillers" (archived here). He Fight Fight Fight LLC, meanwhile, told TMZ and the US fact-checking website Snopes that the company had nothing to do with the Craigslist listing (archived here and here). AFP reached out to Fight Fight Fight LLC for comment, but no response was forthcoming. AFP also contacted the parade's organizers, Craigslist and the Craigslist account that posted the advertisement. The US Army declined to comment. AFP has previously debunked other misinformation around paid rally attendees here.
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Trump's Military Parade Searching for 'Ethnic' Seat Fillers to Pack Crowds, Craigslist Ad Claims
A Craigslist ad offering people hundreds of dollars in cryptocurrency to attend President Donald Trump's military parade and act as seat fillers has surfaced, causing social media users to mock the President. The parade, which is meant to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, will take place in Washington DC on June 14, beginning at 6:30 pm. "I think it's gonna be better and bigger than any parade we've ever had in this country," Trump said in a video posted on June 6 to his Truth Social platform. "I don't think we've ever done one quite like this." However, an ad for seat fillers was posted to Craigslist on June 10. "T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th. Extras and Seat fillers will check in on the morning of June 14th at 9:00 a.m," the ad begins. "Extras are required to wear Red, White and Blue clothing and will be provided a RED hat to wear. GOLD accessories are acceptable as well. The team will advise the extras where to stand or sit according to the line of sight from a VIP viewing platform area. Extras and Seat fillers will be paid a flat daily fee and will be provided a lunch of fast food and soda," it continues. The ad specifically "encourage[s] people of color and ethnic groups to sign up for maximum perception control," claiming "these individuals will be prominently displayed on the televised broadcast and local viewing screens to be seen by the VIP platform." Social media users quickly took to online platforms to mock the President for being unable to organically drive up attendance for the event. "@WhiteHouse do you have to pay people to show up? Lmfao," said one user. "I wonder which cryptocurrency they will be paid in..." said another. "Imagine having to pay people to come to your birthday party," said a third. "So everyone that will be seen on TV and seen by Trump and his sycophants are being paid $1000. And they are encouraging minorities," added a fourth. Many have speculated that the parade is actually a celebration of the President's incoming birthday, which also occurs on June 14. "As one of the first events of the year-long celebration of our 250th anniversary, this commemorative parade will be a fitting tribute to the service, sacrifice, and selflessness of the brave men and women who have worn the uniform and devoted their lives to defending the greatest experiment in liberty known to man," said Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Vince Haley, in a statement. Originally published on Latin Times
