Larri Merritt (born July 22, 1998), professionally known as Larray, is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

and

social media influencer An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

. He produces comedic video content on his YouTube channel, and is part of the collaborative

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

collective known as

The Hype House The Hype House is a collective of teenage TikTok personalities based in Moorpark, California, as well as the name of the mansion where some of the creators live. It is a collaborative content creation house, allowing the different influencers ...

. After initially gaining prominence on

Vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

, he started uploading videos onto YouTube after the former became defunct.

Career

Before becoming a former member of

in January 2020 to late 2020, he had accumulated over 6 million subscribers on his personal

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel, in addition to approximately 12.8 million followers on his personal

account. He was nominated in the Breakout Creator category at the

9th Streamy Awards The 9th Annual Streamy Awards was the ninth installment of the Streamy Awards honoring the best in American streaming television series and their creators. The awards was split into three sections with different themes: the main Streamy Awards, t ...

in December 2019. His three

novelty songs A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...

" First Place," "Last Place" and " Canceled" together spent 42 weeks on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

's Comedy Digital Tracks chart before its abolishment in January 2020, with the former gaining over 41 million views on

, and ranking at number 13 on the 2018 year-end chart. In August 2022, he launched a

virtual restaurant A virtual restaurant (also known as a ghost kitchen or dark kitchen) is a food service business that serves customers exclusively by delivery and pick up based on phone and online ordering. It is a separate food vendor entity that operates out o ...

that sells mac and cheese.

COVID-19 pandemic controversy

On July 21, 2020,

Nikita Dragun Nikita Nguyen (born January 31, 1996) known professionally as Nikita Dragun, is a YouTuber, make-up artist, and model. Early life Nikita Nguyen was born in Belgium and attended high school in Virginia, United States. She is of Vietnamese and Me ...

held a surprise birthday party for Merritt during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The party included social media personalities such as

James Charles James Charles Dickinson (born May 23, 1999) is an American beauty YouTuber and makeup artist. While working as a local makeup artist in his hometown of Bethlehem, New York, Charles started a YouTube channel, where he posts makeup tutorials. ...

Charli D'Amelio Charli Grace D'Amelio ( ; born May 1, 2004) is an American social media personality. She was a competitive dancer for over 10 years before starting her social media career in 2019, when she started posting dance videos on the video-sharing pl ...

Dixie D'Amelio Dixie Jane D'Amelio ( ; born August 12, 2001) is an American singer and social media personality known for her videos on TikTok. She is the elder sister of Charli D'Amelio. She was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 2020, she starred in the You ...

, and others. At the time of the party, California's COVID-19 cases had just surpassed New York's cases. There was an estimated 67 people in attendance, many of whom were seen without face masks despite local health recommendations. Photos and videos of the event appeared on social media sites such as

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

. These posts drew criticism from the public, including other influencers like

Elijah Daniel Elijah Daniel (born January 9, 1994) is an American comedian, rapper, record producer, songwriter, and author. He became popular online through his satirical social media posts. Daniel began rapping under the name Lil Phag in late 2017. Daniel ...

and

Tyler Oakley Mathew Tyler Oakley (born March 22, 1989) is an American YouTuber, actor, activist and author. Much of Oakley's activism has been dedicated to LGBT youth, LGBT rights, as well as social issues including health care, education, and the preventio ...

. Merritt, and some of the other attendees, later apologized. Residents of the Hype House later tested negative for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Discography

Singles

Other charted songs

Awards and nominations

References

{{Authority control Living people 1998 births People from Los Angeles American TikTokers American YouTubers Gay entertainers LGBT YouTubers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people LGBT TikTokers