Is the Republican National Convention truly "Grindr’s Super Bowl?" The claim was made by a satirical account, but that hasn't stopped people, including former congressman George Santos, from weighing in. On July 15, The Halfway Post, which is described as "halfway true comedy and satire by @DashMacIntyre" on X, wrote that "an executive of the gay dating app Grindr says the Republican National Convention is 'basically Grindr’s Super Bowl.'"
Of course, a Grindr executive did not actually say this, but other reports suggest that the app might be used more during the RNC.
Multiple outlets, including Newsweek and Mashable, have reported that Grindr has experienced outages in Milwaukee during the RNC. These outlets cited Downdetector, a website where people can report and find information about outages, with Newsweek reporting that more than 1.000 people were experiencing issues with Grindr in the Milwaukee area on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.
However, Grindr itself has not reported issues, per Newsweek. Though the post about RNC being "Grindr’s Super Bowl" was clearly a joke, one Grindr user told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he did notice some differences on the app during the RNC.
He's noticed an uptick in the number of profiles on the app that are either blank or that feature a "headless torso."
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"On any given day, you’ll go on there and see a headless torso or blank profile," the source told the outlet, but he explained that he has seen a lot more than usual during the RNC.
Normally, he said, there might be about 10 blank or "headless" profiles, but on Thursday, July 18, he couldn't even count the number of profiles that didn't have a photo; it was more than 50, he told the outlet.
On X, some users shared screenshots of blank Grindr profiles near Milwaukee, some of which said things like "here for a week."
Other X users called the RNC "Grindr's World Cup."
"I literally just said today I need someone in Milwaukee to take before and after screenshots their Grindr grid so we can see how many headless torso’s there are now compared to after the RNC. " one person wrote on the platform.
Regardless of whether these alleged faceless profiles are actually people who are in town for the RNC, George Santos shared his thoughts on the "Grindr Super Bowl" comment.
" Come out the closest boys !" George wrote on X. He also shared a video in which he assured people that "you can be gay and conservative."
“So Grindr executives are calling the RNC convention 'Grindr’s Super Bowl.' I’m openly gay, no qualms about it, proud conservative Republican," George Santos said in his video. "Let me tell you something: Just come out of the closet boys! Come on, it’s fun!"
"You can be gay and conservative," he continued. "Grindr is always outing you anyways based on the hits. And guess who’s in town? It’s all you conservatives. Bye!”
