After 2 stars of the TikTok Sway House were arrested, other members say they're being harassed, stalked, and doxxed
- It appears avid fans of Sway LA are showing up at the group's Bel Air mansion following the TikTok collab house's latest controversy.
- On Twitter, Sway House member Anthony Reeves asked supporters to respect the group's privacy after ringleader Bryce Hall and fellow member Jaden Hossler were arrested and charged with drug-related offenses in Lee County, Texas on Monday, May 25.
- Meanwhile, Nessa Barrett, a TikTokker currently dating Sway House member Josh Richards, has been dealing with similar privacy issues following a controversy of her own, facing doxxing online.
- "Doxxing," a type of online harassment that involves publishing a person's private, identifying information, can in instances be illegal under the interstate communications and stalking.
Living rent-free in one of TikTok's buzziest collab houses — the Sway House — might sound like a sweet deal: Hang out with your friends, make content, and get paid. And most of the time, for the group's six male members, it is. But in light of recent events, member Anthony Reeves was forced to call out fans for showing up at the house uninvited in the hope of meeting (or at least, catching a glimpse of) the Sway boys.
The unexpected drop-ins from fans were likely intended to be a show of support for Sway LA, after two of the group's most recognizable faces, Bryce Hall, 20, and Jaden Hossler, 19, were arrested and charged with drug-related offenses on Monday during a cross-country road trip. The visits could also be read as an attempt to gauge what is going on with the group, given their silence on social media following the incident.
Privacy issues such as these are becoming a recurring issue for popular creators with sprawling fandoms. Earlier this month, TikTokker Addison Rae Easterling posted about her personal information being stolen and shared online.
And last year, David Dobrik begged fans to stop visiting his house.
"This is crazy that I'm still making these stories, I literally feel like a broken record — I sound like my parents," Dobrik said on Instagram. "But stop coming here, please. I don't wanna have to move, but this is terrifying."
Nessa Barrett — girlfriend of Sway House member Josh Richards — flagged similar invasions of privacy in a series of tweets on Thursday. Apparently, fans have been "banging on" her door and "taking videos" after Barrett's home address, phone number, and parents' phone numbers were leaked online.
"it's rude and weird," she wrote, before adding "it's not funny."
Later, Barrett elaborated on the harassment during an Instagram live stream.
"My family's been getting harassed," she explained in the broadcast, which can still be watched in full on YouTube. "And I just wanna let you know that I'm not home. I'm barely home."
Barrett specifically noted that she "keep(s) getting calls" on her personal phone and that her mother and father have been "getting harassed over the phone," too.
"There's no reason why my single mom and nine-year-old brother should be in danger right now because people are just straight up doxxing me and doing whatever they can to make my life a miserable sh*tshow..." she continued. "My life right now is just not enjoyable."
Barrett asked fans to "please stop," and warned about the potential consequences of doxxing, a practice that amounts to exposing a person or an organization's private information online. Often, this kind of cyber attack is driven by a desire to exact revenge or vigilante justice upon the victim.
"It's very illegal and dangerous," she said. "I don't think you guys understand how dangerous this is, like especially since I have a lot of people obviously that hate me right now."
The "hate" Barrett was likely referring to stems from two, recent incidents: dancing to a verse of the Quran (a mistake for which she's since apologized) and statements Barrett may or may not have made on private, unverified Instagram accounts. The "finsta" accounts were exposed by a former classmate Matthew Benish in viral TikTok that was subsequently deleted. In the video, Benish claimed Barrett made racist, homophobic, fat-phobic, and ableist remarks on these anonymous accounts.
In a previous live stream, Barrett noted her plans to move out of her parent's house this summer. Barrett is rumored to be joining a collab house of her own. Barrett has tweeted about potentially living with her best friend Madison "Mads" Lewis, and according to comments made by Richards and Hall on YouTube, a Sway LA girls' house is in the works.
- Read more:
- Bryce Hall, Jaden Hossler Sway arrest: what led up to the incident
David Dobrik is urging people to stop visiting his house: 'I don't wanna have to move'