TikTok Stars Bryce Hall And Blake Gray Plead Not Guilty To Charges For Throwing Hollywood Hills House Parties
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — TikTok stars Bryce Hall and Blake Gray pleaded not guilty Thursday to misdemeanor charges for hosting two parties at their rented Hollywood Hills home in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hall, 21, and Gray, 20, were charged last August with one count each of causing a public nuisance by conducting a loud and unruly conduct gathering and violating the "Safer LA" emergency declaration.
The TikTok stars hosted two parties at the home they share on the 8700 block of Appian Way within less than a week.
On Aug. 8, Hall and Gray threw a large party at the home, which brought out the LAPD. However, despite being cited, on Aug. 14, they threw a second party for Hall's 21st birthday which was attended by several hundred people, City Attorney Mike Feuer said.
Officers were called to the home on reports of gunfire, although they found no evidence that a weapon had been fired.
On Aug. 19, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered that utility service be shut down at the home after they received multiple warnings for throwing several large parties there.
A few weeks prior, on Aug. 5, Garcetti had issued a public order authorizing the L.A. Department of Water and Power to shut off utilities at homes which host large gatherings, parties or events.
"If you have a combined 19 million followers on TikTok in the middle of a public health crisis, you should be modeling great behavior, best practices for all of us, rather than brazenly violating the law, then posting videos about it, as we allege happened here," Feuer told reporters.
Meanwhile, charges were also filed Friday against two other homeowners who also received multiple citations for throwing parties. Feuer identified them as Jianwei Bai, owner of a home on Outpost Drive, and David Marvisi, owner of a home on Sunset View Drive.
All four men face misdemeanor charges for violating the Safer L.A. Health Order and the Party House Ordinance. If convicted as charged, each faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail and $2,000 in fines.
Feuer said last year that he hoped the announcement of the charges would make others reconsider whether to host parties, saying "the stakes are so much higher now and that means we are going to be even more vigilant now."
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
