Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

$
Viral image
Viral image
stated on June 21, 2020 in a Facebook post:

Photo shows the BOK Center full with people during Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally.

False
By Bill McCarthy
June 23, 2020

Facebook user posts photo from past Trump rally, wrongly claims it shows packed Tulsa arena

If your time is short

  • The photo is not from Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla.

  • The stadium and stage are set up differently in the photo than at the BOK Center.

See the sources for this fact-check

President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., the first since the coronavirus hit the U.S., drew 6,200 people, the Tulsa fire department said.

That’s a far cry from the 19,000 people the city’s BOK Center can fit, and an even farther cry from the 1 million people who the Trump campaign said registered to attend. The campaign hyped the rally as a major event with an expected overflow crowd big enough to cheer on a second speech outside the arena, but organizers canceled the second address when that crowd didn’t materialize.

Reporters on site shared photos and videos of empty blue seats and a comparatively sparse crowd, while critics jeered Trump on social media and joked about TikTok users who registered for tickets with no intention of showing.

Now, supporters of the president are defending him by flooding social media with photos that they say show a nearly sold-out arena in Tulsa. 

One Facebook post shows a packed arena from the vantage point of two people sitting in the venue’s upper deck. A man in the photo is wearing a Trump campaign shirt. “Stadium in Tulsa Trump rally yesterday,” the caption on the June 21 post says. 

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

That’s because this photo was taken at a different Trump rally. As some social media users pointed out in the comments, the arena and stage in the photo are set up differently than the BOK Center in Tulsa, where Trump’s June 20 rally took place.

Trump rally Tulsa stadium art
Figure 1: President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20, 2020, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP/Ogrocki)

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20, 2020, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP/Ogrocki)

The stadium in the Facebook photo, for example, shows three levels of seats and two electronic advertising banners telling attendees to “TEXT TRUMP.” Photos from Trump’s event at the BOK Center show just two levels of seats and one electronic advertising banner.

The jumbotron in the Facebook photo is a different shape than the jumbotron at the BOK Center. The ramp from the tunnel to the stage is set up to the left of the stage in the Facebook photo, but photos from the BOK Center show the ramp at that venue was set up to the right.

There are other visible differences, too.

Trump Tulsa rally ramp art
Figure 2: President Donald Trump arrives on the ramp to the stage at a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20, 2020, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP/Vucci)

President Donald Trump arrives on the ramp to the stage at a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20, 2020, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP/Vucci)

It’s hard to say which rally the Facebook photo is from. We turned up no results when we ran the photo through reverse image searches on Google, TinEye and Yandex. The account that posted the image did not respond to a request for comment sent via Facebook Messenger.

The stage setup in the photo resembles the setup from Trump’s June 2019 rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. The Facebook user who uploaded the photo also shared posts about the Orlando rally after it happened, including a post from conservative political commentator Glenn Beck that showed what appears to be the same stadium, and from a similar vantage point.

Regardless, it’s clear that the Facebook post doesn’t show Trump’s crowd at the BOK Center.

We rate this post False.

Our Sources

Facebook post, June 21, 2020

Various image searches on Google, TinEye and Yandex, June 22, 2020

The New York Times, "Trump’s Tulsa Rally Attendance: 6,200, Fire Dept. Says," June 22, 2020

Facebook post, June 20, 2019

PolitiFact, "Photos show crowds at other events, not Trump’s Tulsa rally," June 22, 2020

PolitiFact, "People are reserving tickets to Trump’s Tulsa rally to leave empty seats. It probably won’t work," June 16, 2020

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Bill McCarthy
Instagram posts
stated on July 12, 2022 Instagram posts
Actor Tom Holland is “confirmed to have died.”
False
Facebook posts
stated on July 2, 2022 a Facebook post
"Fox offers Chris Wallace's Sunday spot to Candace Owens."
False
Instagram posts
stated on June 20, 2022 an Instagram post
“Gas in Canada is $9.00 a gallon.”
False

Viral meme shared by Benny Johnson features old, out-of-context photos in attack on Joe Biden

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on January 7, 2026 a press briefing

stated on January 14, 2026 a statement

Social Media
stated on February 14, 2026 social media posts



stated on January 20, 2026 an op-ed


Donald Trump
stated on February 3, 2026 remarks in the Oval Office


Social Media
stated on February 8, 2026 social media posts





Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on stated on November 17, 2025 in remarks at George Washington University:

Donald Trump
stated on February 2, 2026 an interview with Dan Bongino