Illegal House Party During NZ Lockdown Pisses Off Just About Everyone

As Auckland approaches its eleventh consecutive week of lockdown, a viral house party filled with dry humping Instagram models has caused outrage in New Zealand.

Despite the city’s current “alert level 3” COVID-19 restrictions prohibiting indoor gatherings, videos posted to social media at the weekend showed what looked like more than 50 people crammed into a residence in the affluent suburb of Redvale – drinking, dancing on tables, kissing and twerking. 

Faced with a growing library of Instagram posts documenting the wild party, the event was quickly brought to the attention of the country’s mainstream media, who framed it as an “influencer” party thrown by models flouting the country's pandemic lockdown. And yet Shaneel Lal, who called out the party on social media and documented the fallout, told VICE that it appeared to just be your run-of-the-mill rich people extravaganza.

“These entitled and privileged people went ahead with a childish, selfish and unkind party,” said Shaneel, a 21-year-old law student and board member of Rainbow Youth, Auckland Pride. “The people at the party weren’t influencers; they were just spoiled rich kids.”

Inspector Mark Fergus, area commander of Waitematā North Police, told VICE that authorities received a report of excessive noise at the property in the early hours of Sunday October 17, and attended the address after 4AM to find that the majority of the partygoers had since left. In response to questions as to whether any of the people shown in the videos would be charged for breaching COVID restrictions, Fergus said in a statement that “an investigation is underway” and that “Video footage posted on social media … is being reviewed and Police are looking at enforcement options available for this matter. 

“Police are disappointed this event went ahead given it is not permitted under the current restrictions,” he added.

Shortly after that statement was delivered, NZ Herald reported that police had arrested a 28-year-old man who was allegedly responsible for hosting the party. But Shaneel suggested that the party, and the way it’s been covered by certain parts of the media, has highlighted bigger issues around class divides in greater Auckland

“What you see in the media is that these people have been painted as young children who have just made a mistake ... The thing is, people in North Shore are young children until they turn about 40 years old, but people as young as 14 in South Auckland have dropped out of school to take on extra jobs to support their family in a pandemic.”

In addition to the police, the media and the local Auckland residents, news of the party has also drawn condemnation from the country’s health authorities.

“Dry humping is not a COVID-friendly activity outside your bubble. I can say that with some certainty,” Dr Joel Rindelaub, an aerosol chemist and research fellow at the University of Auckland told NZ Herald. “This has all the makings of a super spreader event, so we just hope there weren't any positive cases at this little shindig.”

The negative attention has had further repercussions for at least two partygoers, who have since been hit with public dismissals by their employers. The first was model and social media influencer Charlie Wilson, who was reportedly dropped by her managing agency Verano after it received multiple tip-offs that she was at the party.

“We do not support or condone the events of the past 24h by anyone involved,” the agency wrote in a now-deleted Instagram story on Monday morning, stating that it was no longer representing Wilson. “Thank you all for bringing the issue to our attention!”

Hours later it emerged that another model, Jaydn McCarthy had been dropped by modelling agency KAM Talent as a result of attending the party. 

“This irresponsible and reckless act has consequences. We do not condone his [McCarthy’s] behaviour at all and have removed him from our agency as of today,” KAM Talent owner Kim Tiam told NewsHub. “At KAM Talent, we take COVID restrictions very seriously, the priority of our talent's health and safety, as well as the public's safety, is at the forefront of our values.”

Wilson shared a statement via a series of Instagram stories on Monday night, in which she apologised to her “friends and family … the wider community and really all of New Zealand.”

“My actions were poor and selfish and reckless, and I’m not expecting forgiveness [or for] people to stop hating me,” she said. “I want to encourage everybody that broke lockdown rules, anybody that attended that party, the least we could do to keep our community safe from here on out is to get tested [and] self-isolate … I just want to make myself an example of what not to do.”

Stoking the outrage is the fact that the illegal party took place on the night of Super Saturday: a nationwide vaccination drive that saw more than 130,000 New Zealanders getting the jab in a bid to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and speed up the country’s return to a post-pandemic state of normalcy.

“People were quite hopeful for the future of Auckland and Aotearoa, and then we were hit with footage of this party that happened on the same night,” said Shaneel. “When you look at the issue on a larger scale: people can’t see their families, people can’t attend funerals, children can’t go to school or see their friends, small businesses are having to shut down … It became very clear to me that [these partygoers] did not care about anyone other than themselves.”

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