On Sunday, an Arco gas station in Phoenix was the scene of a fill-up frenzy, creating a traffic jam so large that Phoenix police had to shut the area down. All because a popular YouTuber wanted to give away some free gasoline.
That YouTuber is Juan Gonzalez, whose “ThatWasEpic” channel has nearly 8 million followers. At about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, he entered the Arco at 16th Street and McDowell Road and put down $10,000 in cash to give patrons free gas. According to store manager Alam Jahalzir, things become chaotic immediately.
“Oh my god — maybe within 10 minutes, as soon as they put it on the internet, we start getting all those customers, all these people,” Jahalzir told Phoenix New Times on Monday.
Pictures and videos of cars waiting in huge lines circulated on Reddit. FOX 10 Phoenix showed up to interview people who got free gas. While people at the store were happy or grateful, reactions on Reddit were mixed.
“That is a god awful location to do that,” one Reddit user commented.
“So that’s what that was. Thought it was an accident,” said another.
“Happy people got some free gas. It most certainly generated lots of content for the influencer,” a third contributor noted.
Jahalzir also said he was running around most of the first hour, trying to tell people not to place the gas pumps back on their holsters to make dealing with the transactions easier.
After about an hour, police arrived to deal with the pileup of cars flowing into and blocking the road on two major streets. “The traffic had caused a gridlock and affected traffic flow,” police spokesperson Sgt. Phil Krynsky said in a statement. “Officers worked with the event coordinator and (were) able to clear the roadway.”
According to Jahalzir, “working with the event coordinator” also included the threat of a fine for the gas station.
“Police came all over and said, ‘Hey, man. You will have to be fined. City will fine you big money,’” Jahalzir said. “I say, ‘Why is it my problem? Why you going to fine me?’ He said, ‘You are blocking the whole street. People cannot go in and out. All messed up.’ I said, ‘It’s not my problem, the guy paid. Talk to him — he’s the one responsible for all the guests. He brought all those people.’”
Police then spoke with Gonzalez, and shortly after the giveaway ended. “We’re just trying to give back essential stuff to people, so we figured fuel was one of them,” Gonzalez told FOX 10. Jahalzir said only a “little bit” of the $10,000 was left by the time police finally shut down the giveaway.
The gas giveaway was neither the first nor the last free-for-all Gonzalez doing in the Valley.
On Friday, he announced to followers and the internet that he put a $10,000 credit down at Juanderful Tacos on Camelback Road, which won the Phoenix New Times Best Tacos award in 2024. The shop rose to prominence after TikTok influencer Keith Lee visited in February and left a glowing review.
In a message on Instagram, Juanderful Tacos co-owner Juan Robles said Gonzalez "caught us 100% by surprise, which made the circumstances a little difficult to navigate, but we made the best of it. The taco shop ran out of food Friday night, closing its line at 7 p.m.
The shop handed out vouchers to those still in line to get free food on another day, distributing approximately 50 vouchers. The shop said 22 customers returned to use their vouchers on Saturday. Approximately $9,000 was spent, and the restaurant retained $1,000 "to tip our employees who endured the hectic day."
"It was an amazing experience," Robles added, "despite the fact that we were not prepared for it all."
Gonzalez also posted on his Facebook page that he would announce another giveaway on Tuesday. According to FOX 10, he said it would most likely be at a clothing store. Here's hoping they're ready for it.
