Influencer “Meatball” Charged in Philly Looting Loves Her Mugshot
And so do her fans. Plus, the complete list of liquor stores closed until further notice.
A screenshot of the Instagram page of Philadelphia Influencer “Meatball.” Her real name is Dayjia Blackwell. She is charged in the looting that occurred in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. (via @dayjiamainpage)
Check phillymag.com each morning Monday through Friday for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking Philly Mag reporters, please direct it here. You can also use that form to send us reader mail. We love reader mail!
Influencer “Meatball” Charged in Philly Looting Seems to Love Her Mugshot
If you got arrested and had your mugshot released to the public in an incident of national embarrassment for Philadelphia, you’d probably turn off your phone, lock yourself in your room, and binge-watch some really dark Swedish true-crime drama for a few days. I’m guessing you’d open your front door only to pick up the food left on your stoop by UberEats. But you’re not Meatball.
If you have no idea who Meatball is, you need to stop leading a productive life of contributing to society and spend more time on TikTok and Instagram watching Philly people do silly things. Meatball is, as they say these days, an influencer, with hundreds of thousands of followers on the two platforms. (You can find her here, should you so choose.)
Of course, Meatball wasn’t born Meatball. She was born Dayjia Blackwell. And that’s the name she’s been charged under due to Tuesday’s looting in Philadelphia, which she dutifully documented via live social media videos — videos that police were able to use to track her down and that will become evidence in the case, since she could be seen on them encouraging the looters and taunting police to arrest her.
The office of District Attorney Larry Krasner has charged the 21-year-old woman with criminal conspiracy, burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, riot and other offenses. It appears to be the heftiest case filed thus far in the Philadelphia looting. And she could face some serious jail time if convicted.
The court was holding Meatball on $25,000 bail, which somebody appears to have posted in the early morning hours of Thursday, according to court documents. And Meatball didn’t waste any time getting back to being Meatball. Her first order of business was posting her mugshot to her Instagram page. Within five hours, she was already up to over 11,000 likes.
When she’s not in the middle of widespread Philadelphia looting, Meatball has an OnlyFans account. (I opted not to pay the $25 to find out what was on there.) And she also is CEO of her own apparel company, Aint Nuffin, which sells beanies and t-shirts that read, well, Aint Nuffin.
If I were a betting man, I’d place a fair wager that Meatball is going to take a page out of the book of Donald Trump and will soon be selling hats and t-shirts emblazoned with her mugshot. And I bet she’ll sell a lot of them!
I reached out to Meatball for comment, but she has yet to get back to me.
So Much for the Mütter Museum’s Halloween Ball
One of the most popular events at the weird and creepy Mütter Museum is its annual Halloween ball. It’s also the Mütter’s biggest single-day fund-raising event. But amid all sorts of turmoil, that Halloween ball is no longer happening. The Inquirer has the full story on the cancellation. And for more context on all of this, be sure to read Malcolm Burnley’s deep dive into the controversies facing the Mütter Museum from the just-out October issue of Philly Mag.
Confessed Child-Killer David Zandstra Returns to Delco Today
According to the Delco DA’s office, former Delco pastor David Zandstra, who recently confessed to killing eight-year-old Marple girl Gretchen Harrington way back in 1975, is due back in Delco today following extradition proceedings in Georgia. Zandstra confessed to Pennsylvania State Police investigators when they went down to Georgia to question him earlier this year. It’s unclear if Zandstra intends to plead guilty or go to trial in Delco. More on this to come. Meanwhile, check out my true-crime feature on Zandstra and the disturbing questions his case raises from the September issue of Philly Mag.
Local Talent
Guess who Bradley Cooper consulted with for his role as Leonard Bernstein in the biopic? None other than Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Speaking of Yannick, he returns to the stage this evening at the Kimmel Center with Yo-Yo Ma for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s opening night. Want to know how to really piss off Yannick tonight at that performance? Read this.
By the Numbers
52: Total arrests as of Wednesday afternoon from Tuesday’s looting incidents. That breaks down to 49 adults and 3 juveniles. Police expect to make more arrests as investigators comb through video evidence. (Thanks, Meatball!)
$2: SEPTA bus, trolley, and subway fare that you’ll be able to pay using a bank card and phone apps starting on Friday. Welcome to the 20th century, Philadelphia.
18: Minimum number of local wine-and-spirits stores that were looted since Tuesday evening, according to a PLCB spokesperson, resulting in the state temporarily shutting down all shops in Philly and one in Montgomery County. Most of those stores were set to reopen at 11 a.m. on Thursday. But some are closed until further notice. Those locations are as follows:
- 3250 N. Broad St.
- 3101 W. Girard Ave.
- 4229 N Broad St.
- 5159 Lancaster Ave.
- 4906-4908 Baltimore Ave.
- 3772 L St.
- 2115 N 22nd St.
- 6577 Roosevelt Blvd.
- 730 Adams Ave.
And from the Hungover Sports Desk …
Round two in the Pirates-Phils battle was last night at CBP, with Ranger Suárez on the mound. He started out shaky, giving up a walk, three singles and a double-play grounder that scored three runs … you don’t think it could have been all that clubhouse celebrating the night before? They picked up two more in the third on a single, a double and another single: 5-0. Did we mention the Phils fan who tried to get his “emotional support” alligator into the game?
But the Phils shook it off in the fourth and scored four off Johan Oviedo on a Brandon Marsh double, a Jake Cave walk, a pitch that whacked Johan Rojas, an RBI ground-out by Rodolfo Castro, and a three-run Garrett Stubbs homer. Whew! Many, many, many, many Stubbs jokes on social media.
This was Garrett Stubbs approximately 10 hours ago…he just hit a 3-run shot for his first homer of the year
— Logan Kurtz (@lkurtzy23) September 28, 2023
In the fifth, after a single and a two-out triple by Jack Suwinski put another Pirate run on the board, Suárez came out for Seranthony Dominguez, who got the final out. Edmundo Sosa opened the fifth with a solo homer, and that was followed by a Bryce Harper double and a Cristian Pache single that tied it up: 6-6.
In the sixth, Hunter Stratten replaced Oviedo and pitched three straight strikeouts. In the top of the seventh, Orion Kerkering, in his second major league appearance, dealt out a ground-out, a single by Connor Joe, a walk — and then two strikeouts. Way to go, kid! With José Hernández in for Stratten and two outs, Harper homered for the Phils lead! Dylan Covey handled the eighth handily, and Gregory Soto struck out the side in the ninth for the terrific 7-6 comeback — their seventh win in a row!
The Phillies were literally hungover and benched all of their starters besides Harper because he’s Mormon and doesn’t drink…and the Pirates still blew a 5-0 lead and lost. Tough series in Philadelphia so far
— SPorts Corner (@SPortsCorners) September 28, 2023
The final home game of the regular season is tonight at 6:05.
And in Doop News …
The Union faced off against FC Dallas at Subaru Park last night, and they were missing Julián Carranza, José Martínez and Jakob Glesnes, all out with injuries. The U had chances in the opening minutes, and they finally converted one in the 24th minute on a strike by Quinn Sullivan, Carranza’s sub. Dallas almost got it back five minutes later with a sustained attack on the goal, but the Union were lucky. They weren’t so much five minutes after that, when Chris Fuentes put one in. That’s right where it stayed through the whole second half: 1-1, the Union’s fourth (yawn) draw in a row. (It helped that a Dallas goal in the 82nd minute was called back, after a hand-ball review.) Next game: Saturday in Columbus, 7:30 start.
And as for College Football …
Temple plays football in Tulsa starting at 7:30, hoping for redemption in AAC play after last week’s shellacking by nationally ranked Miami.
All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.
