A Craigslist ad, which is being widely circulated on Twitter, has fueled speculation that the Donald Trump campaign put out an ad looking to hire African American actors for its upcoming rally in Tulsa.
Several Twitter users shared screenshots of the ad seeking "Excited and enthusiastic MINORITY Actors and Actresses" to "hold signs" at an event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, June 20. The ad was apparently posted on Tulsa's local Craigslist page but was pulled from the classifieds website after the ad went viral.
The Craigslist ad, which has not yet been verified, led many to make the connection that the ad was hiring minorities to participate in President Trump's upcoming rally in exchange for a $10 compensation. The ad also mentioned the location of the event as "Third St near Denver Ave," which is right across the street from the Bok Center where Trump's rally is going to be held.
The rally was re-scheduled for Saturday, after being originally planned for Juneteenth, a day commemorated as the end of slavery in the United States. The announcement of the rally's location sparked controversy because Tulsa was the site of the 1921 massacre of hundreds of Black people by a white mob.
Craigslist Ads Precede Every Rally
"These Craigslist ads have been posted before every Trump rally since 2015," pointed out one Twitter user. "It's how they choose the majority of the people that sit directly behind him on stage."
This isn't the first time similar ads have cropped up in the days leading up to the president's events. In November 2019, a Craigslist ad shared on Facebook called for actors for "protest activity" in Phoenix, Arizona. Likewise, this ad mentioned people of color, saying "minorities" were "welcome and needed."
Before that, Craigslist had removed another ad soliciting pro-Trump actors for a 2017 Phoenix rally and in 2015, Trump solicited a casting agency to hire actors to beef up attendance at his presidential announcement.
