Los Angeles city officials cutting the power to influencers’ homes is an abuse of power and shouldn’t be used as a punishment for not following coronavirus guidelines.

On Aug.14, YouTube and TikTok star Bryce Hall hosted his birthday party at a venue in Encino with more than 100 guests, which was a violation of public health orders according to an Aug. 19 LA Times article.

Los Angeles County public health orders state that private gatherings of multiple households should follow face covering and social distancing guidelines, which were not followed by any of the guests at the party.

In response, Los Angeles local officials cut power to Hall’s personal Hollywood Hills home rather than the venue where the party was held after footage of the event was posted on Instagram.

“Despite several warnings, this house has turned into a nightclub in the hills, hosting large gatherings in flagrant violation of our public health orders,” LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement according to an Aug. 19 New York Times article. “The City has now disconnected utilities at this home to stop these parties that endanger our community.”

While it’s frustrating to see influencers ignore public safety guidelines, cutting their power isn’t the right action to take.

By cutting off the utilities to one person’s house, it opens up the possibility of local officials cutting off power to other households too.

It’s likely there would be a massive public outcry if power was cut to a low-income family’s home, but because it’s happening to rich celebrities, no one seems to care.

Rather than cutting off power to influencers’ homes, fans should hold them accountable.

On July 21, there was a party in LA at the Hype House, which is a residence where popular content creators collaborate.

According to an Aug. 6 Business Insider article, 70 people attended the party and among them were popular creators such as Charli D’Amelio, Emma Chamberlain and James Charles.

Each of these content creators have millions of followers, which view  them as role models. As much as fans may support an influencer, they should also hold them accountable for their actions by speaking out against them.

Their fans should be embarrassed that they support and follow celebrities who disregard public safety.

Cancel culture is an effective way to send a message to these content creators to let them know that what they are doing is wrong.

There are real safety risks when throwing a massive party during a pandemic and these content creators need to realize the negative message they are sending to their fans when they don’t follow COVID-19 health guidelines. 

“Daily cases have doubled in the last 10 days,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement Monday. “This is the fastest increase California has seen since the beginning of the pandemic. We are now moving backwards and not forwards.”

Celebrities with a much greater following are sharing photos of themselves traveling and having extravagant parties over social media.

Kendall Jenner faced backlash after throwing a birthday party on Halloween which featured about 100 celebrities at a hotel in West Hollywood, according to a Nov. 2 CNN article.

Kim Kardashian West also flouted health guidelines by taking a group of friends on a tropical vacation to celebrate her birthday, according to an Oct. 27 Mercury News article. 

Social media users criticized Kardashian West for tweeting out photos of her luxurious vacation when other people have to stay at home. 

A Twitter user by the name of @riah_declares tweeted, “I haven’t been inside a restaurant in seven months, but you got to go to an island.”

Influencers hosting large gatherings is a slap in the face to people who can’t return to their normal lives because of individuals who don’t take the pandemic seriously.

According to data from The New York Times, Los Angeles County has more than 340,000 COVID-19 cases as of Nov. 18.

Influencers that are living in such a heavily populated area while continuing to throw parties with hundreds of people should be ashamed of themselves.

Several counties in the state, including Santa Clara County and Los Angeles County, are now back to the purple tier, which indicates widespread COVID-19 risk.

There should be no excuse for these creators to party. People need to hold them accountable by unfollowing and calling them out.