Craigslist post seeking military parade attendees is 'fake': White House
- Published on June 13, 2025 at 18:16
- 4 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"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.
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