White Party founder criticized for hosting New Year’s Eve parties in Mexico
The founder of White Party Palm Springs, Jeffrey Sanker, is being criticized by some for organizing a large New Year's party in Mexico.
White Party Entertainment Inc. originally promoted that a party at Sanker's nightclub in Puerto Vallarta, a popular resort town on Mexico's Pacific coast in the state of Jalisco. An Eventbrite page also showed another White Party NYE event happening at a nearby beach club. A week before the parties, the club was shut down along with all other bars by state authorities, prompting a change in venue.
Sanker's party was then moved to an outdoor venue in Nuevo Vallarta, a location about 25 minutes away from the original location, but in a different state of Mexico, Nayarit. The state of Nayarit, as opposed to Jalisco, didn't have restrictions on New Year's parties.
According to the Riviera Nayarit Visitors & Convention Bureau, Nayarit is currently in Mexico's orange tier of "Traffic Light" monitoring system. This means that all businesses and organizations are able to continue to operate at 50% capacity. This includes the hotel industry, beaches, and tours.
The White Party's eventbrite page shows that it was listed as a "Limited Event Capacity" with temperature checks and mandatory masks requirement for entry. for entry to all venues.
The stage of the state hasn't stopped some, both in the U.S. and in Mexico, to criticize having a large gathering during the pandemic. While cases seem to be lower in Mexico than in the U.S., deaths are disproportionally higher when looking at the case per death ratio (per 100 confirmed cases).
Mexico is currently experiencing a surge in deaths,
The WeHo Times, an online news source covering West Hollywood, has more on the criticism Sanker has received for throwing the parties.
White Party Inc.'s Eventbrite page and Sanker's Instagram page reveal this was far from the first party thrown in Puerto Vallarta, with other parties thrown for Halloween and Thanksgiving.
The comments on Sanker's most recent post on the Halloween party have many criticizing holding the gathering.
As for White Party Palm Springs, the 2020 edition was pushed back before being canceled altogether due to the pandemic. The 2021 White Party is planned to take place from April 23 through April 26.
