After a meet and greet became chaotic, followers of an Australian TikTok and OnlyFans celebrity dubbed “Australia’s Kim Kardashian” have taken to social media to criticize a well-known sportswear brand.
As a result of boisterous fans storming a mall and packing it with people, Western Australia Police were forced to call off the event with influencer Anna Paul.
On Sunday, hundreds of youngsters flocked to a Stax pop-up shop in Perth’s central business district to get a glimpse of the 23-year-old influencer as she travels the nation.
Hundreds stayed outside the shop overnight to get a head start in the line, which by 7am, five hours before the event was scheduled to start, had swollen to several thousand people.
The meet and greet was halted by cops as the crowd became out of control and prevented Stax from continuing.
Outraged fans have criticized Stax for how the event was planned in response to the disaster.
Tiffashleigh said on TikTok, “It was quite disappointed.”
I just spent five hours of my day traveling to meet Anna Paul, which I never even managed to do.
She claimed to have saw a girl being treated by paramedics inside the Stax shop after being hurt during the disturbance.
People were physically forcing you to go forward to the person in front of you even if you didn’t want to, according to Tiffy. If you didn’t, you would be crushed and collapse.
Another stated that when she came at 7 am, there were already 2000 people there.
According to TikTok user Thaliahorgan.x, “So Anna Paul, we still love you but f**k you Stax for not understanding how to organize an event since we questioned all the police and rangers and they had no idea there was an event occurring.”
The proprietors of Stax have already apologized to the unhappy fans and said they were devastated the event could not go on.
A statement on Instagram stated, “We are blown away by the reaction and cannot thank you all enough for continuously supporting STAX. and everything that we do.”
I am personally devastated that we cannot proceed since, as you can guess, this is not how we anticipated today happening. Every single one of you is loved and appreciated by us.
Social media videos show throngs of admirers crammed close together outside the Stax shop, an athletic retailer Paul has promoted, on Hay Street, yelling “Anna!” as they wait to see the celebrity.
As a large throng gathered outside the event, several participants allegedly “jumped the line,” which led to “tensions” that required the intervention of WA Police.
A pop-up event in Perth to meet influencer Anna Paul (pictured) was canceled by police as a result of the large number of teens who showed up.
Furious fans have lashed out at Stax after
‘Police attended a clothing store store in Hay Street Mall at the request of store’s management due to the store expecting about 200 to 300 people to attend an event publicised on social media,’ WA Police said.
‘A significantly larger crowd than expected attended. Tensions among some parts of the crowd were noticed to increase with allegations of ‘queue jumping’.
‘Police requested the assistance of St John Ambulance after several people collapsed and required medical assistance.’
The event was expected to run from 12pm to 4pm but was cancelled prematurely, with officers dispersing fans from the area.
WA Police said the event as cancelled after consulting with the store’s management ‘due to the size of the crowd’, ‘lack of appropriate security’, and insufficient capabilities to cope with the higher-than-expected numbers.
Paul released a statement on Instagram just after midday saying police ordered organisers to close down the event because of crowd control concerns.
‘Due to safety the West Australia police had to shut down the Perth meet and greet early,’ she wrote.
‘It became a huge safety hazard… thank you for being amazing… I am so so sorry we tried our very best to work with the police but it got too much.’
Anna traveled to Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth last week for a meet-and-greet trip.
The Queenslander, who has seven million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined, spent the previous week travelling across Sydney and Melbourne and mixing with devoted fans.
Both occasions saw similar scenes as adoring admirers went to visit her and brought presents like flowers, notes, posters, and clothes.
Her last destination was the meet-and-greet in Perth, where she was scheduled to promote her latest project with Stax and provide products from her collection that are often unavailable to customers in Western Australia.
Before transitioning into a profitable job uploading material on the subscription-based website Only Fans, where she is one of the biggest earners, Paul began as a lip-sync performer on TikTok.
Her net worth, which includes her opulent waterfront property on the Gold Coast, was estimated to be between $6 million and $7 million as of April.