Teary-eyed influencer who livestreamed herself laughing at Philadelphia looting chaos breaks silence following arrest
Dominic Smithers
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/Philadelphia Police Department
The influencer who livestreamed herself laughing amid the looting in Philadelphia has spoken out.
Dayjia Blackwell, known online as 'Meatball', broadcast a livestream to her 200,000 followers on social media as people ransacked an Apple store she was in.
Cops received calls at around 8pm on Tuesday (26th September) night after huge crowds of people began gathering at Center City.
Advert
As well as Apple, a number of stores were targeted, with people looting a nearby Footlocker and Lululemon, as well as liquor stores.
Blackwell's video sparked outrage with many who were sickened by the scenes, and Blackwell was eventually arrested and charged with six felonies, including burglary, conspiracy, riot and criminal use of a communication facility, as well as two misdemeanours.
Her mugshot has since been shared widely online, showing her crying following the arrest.
Police said she added fuel to the fire with her livestream, which they say encouraged more people to get involved.
But now, the social media personality has spoken out for the first time about it all.
In a post to her Instagram story, Blackwell said she appreciated the support she has received from some people.
"I just want to say thanks to everybody that ya know cared for me. Ain't nothing never been nothing," she said. "I ain't done anything like this in my life."
She went on: "I've never been through nothing like that ever in my life, I don't even know what happened.
"I need some sleep, I'm scared, I'm traumatized, never again in my live, like seriously."
In a follow-up post, Blackwell hit out at the police over their treatment of her, saying 'this what these people do to us black people'.
She wrote: "I can't believe this I'm traumatized the way they treated me in the jails wow this what these people do to us black people 60!"
"Whatever I gotta do to remain humble and live a better life I will! I will never see jail again. I felt like I did years."
Blackwell was among 52 people who were arrested following the incident on Tuesday evening, according to a tweet from Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Stanford about the incident.
Apple was able to identify the stolen devices and disable them remotely, which prompted looters to simply abandon their ill-gotten gains.
Blackwell is due to appear in court next month.