It was supposed to be like any other July 4 in the lush beach town of Newport Beach, Calif., but TikTok users had other ideas. The high-end beach town, where one can buy a McLaren that's the price of a house, Ferraris are daily drivers, the kids drive Range Rovers to school, and where Kobe Bryant used to be spotted visiting his local Starbucks— not far from where I once saw Magic and Cookie grocery shopping (the former Lakers superstar-turned-mogul was pushing the cart)— looked like a war zone.
The Pavilions grocery store was looted. According to the NextDoor app, terrified employees and customers were locked inside the store for hours while they watched all the products for sale outside the store get ripped off or destroyed as stolen fireworks exploded. A "Love Island" participant was seen reacting to the melee. The flash mob of destruction was forced out by the Newport Beach horse patrol.
Last night, a rapidly growing crowd near Newport Pier threatened public safety after social media posts drew thousands to the area. Thanks to months of planning, 350+ officers responded quickly to restore order. Thank you to all of our local and regional first responders. 🚔🚒 pic.twitter.com/O7rcfsDeny
— City of Newport Beach (@newportbeachgov) July 5, 2026
TikTok followers from all over Southern California received the bat signal shortly before midnight July 3 and quickly descended on the quiet beach town on Saturday night, July 4.
But it turned out they chose the wrong town to pull off that stupidity. The conservative town full of money managers and professionals who voted for Trump in 2024 was the wrong place at the wrong time. Those punk-ass brats of every color, stripe, and tribe were ruining their America’s 250 celebration, and they would pay.
By the time the young people lowered themselves from the light poles, businesses were ordered closed, zhuzhed-up “influencers” stopped doing duck lips into their iPhones while standing in front of the rampaging mob, and OnlyFans-bound girls had stopped twerking on top of moving vehicles, parts of the town were trashed. The good news is that authorities arrested 402 people.
@20184k Newport Beach 4th of July 2026 was the worse! This generation does not know how to act! Literally held hostage for 3 hrs, cops didn’t allow anyone out of the peninsula all because kids this days act fkn stupid!!!!
♬ Saxophones getting louder - Sped Up - AntonioVivald
One TikTok user put the riot to music in an attempt to romanticize the stupidity.
@xotwodmii war zone #newport #4thofjuly #newportbeach #fyp ♬ Pursuit Of Happiness - Extended Steve Aoki Remix - Kid Cudi
This Orange County area has had its share of Dirty Johns, Botox docs gone bad, and members of the Mexican Mafia living in it, but residents didn't expect a "sudden influx of thousands of people into a confined area within a short period of time [that] created an immediate threat to public safety and required a coordinated regional law enforcement response." It took 17 law enforcement agencies to quell the mob.
Here's how the cops put it:
Throughout the day, Fourth of July celebrations drew tens of thousands of residents and visitors to Newport Beach. Late in the evening, however, social media posts drew a large influx of juveniles and young adults to the Newport Pier area within a short period of time. As the crowd rapidly grew, individuals engaged in increasingly dangerous and unlawful behavior, blocking roadways, restricting emergency vehicle access and throwing explosive mortars, fireworks and other projectiles at police officers, into densely packed crowds and near families with children.
Police say they had trained for this scenario.
The City's response was the result of months of planning and preparation. Ahead of the holiday, Newport Beach increased police and fire staffing, expanded Safety Enhancement Zones, partnered with regional law enforcement agencies, established a mobile booking station and conducted proactive enforcement throughout the Peninsula. These measures enabled officers to rapidly mobilize regional resources, restore public safety and protect the tens of thousands of residents and visitors who celebrated responsibly throughout the holiday.
A few years back, after learning that my high school-age daughter was texting more than studying in school, I glanced in the back seat and asked if I could use her phone. I drove to our bank and put her now-disabled phone into the safe-deposit box, where it stayed for quite a while.
Now would be a really great time for mom or dad to have a chat about permissible uses for phones. And then, after that chat, introduce them to this thing called a job application so they can pay for their own damned cellphone bill — and bail.
Editor's Note: It’s America’s 250th birthday! Help PJ Media celebrate the greatest nation in history by honoring its past, defending its present, and preserving its future with reporting you can trust.
Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code AMERICA250 to receive 74% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member