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What is #MillionMAGAMarch? K-pop fans flood hashtag with pancake photos, make it useless

Multiple events with names including 'Million MAGA March', 'Stop the Steal', and 'March for Trump' are scheduled to be held at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC around noon on Saturday

On Twitter on Friday, November 13, a hashtag called the #MillionMAGAMarch was trending. Only, contrary to what the name suggested, it was full of photos of pancakes. Although it wasn’t exclusively full of pancake photos. Some people shared photos of croissants. Others shared photos of waffles. But what do delicious breakfast treats have to do with the words “million”, “MAGA”, or “March”? To get to that, we have to first understand what the hashtag was originally meant for.

Multiple events with names including “Million MAGA March”, “Stop the Steal”, and “March for Trump” are scheduled to be held at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC around noon on Saturday. According to the Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate, anti-bigotry, anti-extremism organization founded in 1913, supposedly extremist organizations are promoting the events as a way to protest “voter fraud” -- as alleged by the Donald Trump administration -- to “show support for our President”, and to “demand a free and fair election”. 

As per a report in The Hill, members of Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist group, will be joining the protest in the nation's capital over the weekend. Mayor Muriel Bowser told the media, "I huddled with my team this morning about an additional report of a caravan that might be starting somewhere in the South culminating here.”

"We continue to follow those activities and be prepared for those activities,” Bowser said. “Our police chief will have a similar posture this weekend as he did last week. And we will be there to support peaceful exercise of First Amendment demonstrations."

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Thursday, November 12, that she expects the turnout at the "Million MAGA March" to be “quite large.” She said on Fox News, "I think it's going to be quite large, um, from what I'm hearing, don't have an estimate for you.”

Oren Segal, the vice president of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, however, reportedly said that he doesn't expect the event will draw massive crowds. According to USA Today, only one permit application was approved for an event on Saturday, and it was from Cindy Chafian, the Coalitions Director for Women for America First. Chafian reportedly estimated on Friday that 10,000 people would attend the event.

As per Women for America First, speakers for their event include Republican Representatives Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and Paul Gosar of Arizona; Congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, supposedly a supporter of the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon; and Sebastian Gorka, former Trump counterterrorism adviser who had alleged ties to anti-Semitic groups in Hungary.

So, what does this march have to do with pancakes? In the aftermath of Trump supporters and far-right activists tweeting about the event with the hashtag, the trend was soon hijacked by K-pop fans. Right from the time when Black Lives Matter protests emerged following George Floyd’s death, K-pop fans have been instrumental in hijacking several far-right trends and hashtags. While usually, they seem to use “fancams” and GIFs of their favorite K-pop artists to inundate the trends, this time, they have gone for breakfast foods, and especially pancakes. But it wasn’t just K-pop fans. Soon, many people seemed to join in.

“Sorry #MillionMAGAMarch, I'll be busy savoring my pancakes and Biden's victory,” wrote a Twitter user, sharing pancake photos. Another Twitter user wrote, “Just a kpop stan, trying to ruin the #MillionMAGAMarch with photos of pancakes. Look at these ones, they're Percy Jackson worthy!” Another Twitter user said, “There’s nothing that flips better than a pancake- except ya know.. maybe Georgia and Arizona. #MillionMAGAMarch.”