Kendall Jenner's Halloween Party Dragged Online Over Lack of Masks, Social Distancing

Daniel S. Levine

11/02/2020 07:51 am EST

Even though Kim Kardashian West was criticized on social media for hosting a packed birthday party on a private island during the coronavirus pandemic, younger sister Kendall Jenner still went ahead with a massive Halloween party that doubled as her 25th birthday party on Saturday night. The supermodel turns 25 on Tuesday and invited Kardashian, younger sister Kylie Jenner, brother-in-law Kanye West, and celebrity friends The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber, Paris Hilton, Scott Disick, and more. Jenner wore the Barb Wire costume she showed off on Instagram earlier Saturday to the party.

Fans on social media slammed Jenner for hosting the party, especially as the country experiences a deadly surge in coronavirus cases. Entertainment Tonight reported that both guests and employees had to take a rapid COVID-19 test before they were allowed into the venue, Harriett's Rooftop at 1 Hotel in West Hollywood. People had to test negative to enter the party. Celebrities dressed in elaborate costumes, with The Weeknd spending six hours to look like Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor and Kylie wearing a skin-tight cobra costume with an intricate headpiece.

The costumes might have been impressive any other year, but most fans on social media questioned if the guests were really following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines on wearing face masks and social distancing to help slow the spread of the virus. One viral video from the event showed Jenner blowing out the candles on her cake as an employee wearing a face mask tried to get out of the way. A Twitter user called this the "scariest thing I saw on Halloween."

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Jenner's party came not even a full week after Kardashian was the target of backlash for the elaborate 40th birthday party held on a private island. Almost every member of the Kardashian-Jenner family attended, and photos showed them far closer than six feet apart. One photo showed the only person wearing a face mask was a waiter. "After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time," Kardashian wrote in one tweet, which quickly became a meme.

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The only member of the family to speak out after the party was sister Khloe Kardashian, who appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday and defended the event. She said she did not "really know the extent" of the criticism. "But this year is a frustrating year. I get it," she continued. "I think there's so many frustrations going on for everybody. But also it's her 40th. This is something that she wanted to do for us. It was such a nice thing."

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Khloe claimed the family took every precaution when organizing the event and the staffers at the island were excited to work at a party. "So many people said that we were their first party of guests that they've had in months and what it's done for them to be able to pay their bills or to be able to do stuff for their family, just hearing those messages when we were there, we felt really good and we felt so safe," Khloe told DeGeneres. "We did it in the safest way I could imagine someone doing it."

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One guest at Jenner's party revealed they were given a card asking them not to post on social media during the party. "Take all of the photos you want, but please do not post on social media of any kind," the card read. Many thought this was an attempt by Jenner to hide the fact she was hosting the party during the pandemic, but it was Jenner herself who was posting videos on her Instagram Story.

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Photos of Jaden Smith wearing a breathing mask at the party was particularly shocking for some. "There's just something so inhumane about Jaden Smith wearing an oxygen mask as a costume," one person wrote. It appeared that Smith was wearing a plain black suit with the mask.

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One person suggested anyone who attended Jenner's party should be "canceled." Another person tweeted, "Eat the rich. I hate it here."

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