Anna Paul ends Mark McGowan's popularity streak in Perth
Western Australia wasn't ready for one of Australia's most well-known and loved influencers.
Western Australia wasn't ready for one of Australia's most well-known and loved influencers.
Anna Paul - number seven on The Oz's Influencer Index - had her Perth appearance cancelled by police on Sunday.
Part of the Perth CBD’s main thoroughfare on Hay Street was closed off on Sunday after a meet-and-greet event for the OnlyFans star was swamped with thousands of people.
Several people needed medical treatment after a large crowd descended on the event with some people reportedly fainting and being caught up in fray involving "queue jumpers".
The turn out far exceeded the expectations of organisers, who police said were expecting between 200 and 300 attendees at the 22-year-old's first public event in WA.
Paul and her team, including her partner - fellow influencer Glen Thompson - and her brother Atis, were originally scheduled to spend four hours at the Stax clothing store, but the event was called off just as it was about to begin due to the size of the crowd.
“Tensions among some parts of the crowd were noticed to increase with allegations of ‘queue-jumping’ and police requested the assistance of St John Ambulance after several people collapsed and required medical assistance,” WA police said in a statement.
“Due to the size of the crowd and lack of appropriate security and other event planning in place to cope with the larger than expected crowd, and in consultation with the store management, the event was closed down and police commenced dispersing the crowd from the area.”
perths anna paul meet and greet has been CANCELLED pic.twitter.com/UQfOXzaDjj
— best person ever (@whoslucaas) August 28, 2022
The crowd waiting outside only discovered the event was cancelled after Paul posted an update to her Instagram Stories.
In it she said organisers had to shut the event early after it became “a huge safety hazard”.
“I am so, so, so sorry,” she wrote.
“We tried our very best to work with the police but it got too much.”
Her appearance in Perth followed similarly well-attended events in Sydney and Melbourne, with Paul posting a video online showing dozens of fans sprinting after her in a vehicle as she was driven away with heavy security in tow.
Fans requested selfies and signatures in Melbourne.
Others in Sydney had their mementos made permanent.
The national tour coincided with the release of her official merchandise, which includes T-shirts and tracksuits are starts at $19.95 for a (unsigned) poster of the social media star and tops out at $149 for a hoodie emblazoned with her smiling face.
Stax owners Don Robertson and Matilda Murray said they were “disappointed” about having to close their pop-up store and the event.
"On behalf of myself and Matilda we have the unfortunate news and have been directed by Perth police that due to crowd controls we are unable to proceed with today’s meet and greet in Perth,” Robertson said on Sunday.
“We are overwhelmed with the response and cannot thank you all so much for continuingly supporting Stax and all that we do.”
"We adore Anna. We love what she stands for and have a really great friendship with her. Anna really embodies female empowerment and we know first-hand that she is very inspiring to so many."
The store is expected to remain closed for two days.
Paul is in the top 0.02% earners in the world on OnlyFans and is huge on TikTok, where she has the bulk of her 7.1 million followers.
According to The Oz's exclusive research, she has seen enormous growth on her Instagram over the past three months. While Paul doesn't score particularly high on trustworthiness or expertise, her content frequency and prominence scores were extremely high.
She has the highest average engagement of anyone The Oz analysed.
Read how influencers are now being put on notice after this landmark research here.
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